Save the Children
by generalquistis
Summary: Cloud Strife gets transported into an alternate worlda world so perfect where all the children are happy. Yet there is someone manipulating that world, which can cause him to lose his life... and Aerith again.
1. Chapter 1

Save the Children

oOoOo

It was another awkward morning in Edge wherein it was sunny yet the air was cold. Ever since Meteor, there had been several changes in the climate of the Planet, specifically in the areas of Midgar, Kalm and Junon.

Cloud hated those mornings. It was the middle of April and it was supposed to be summertime in Midgar, but it was very cold even though the sun was shining brightly. He thought it was very deceiving, especially when, 2 weeks ago, Tifa decided to take Denzel and Marlene out for a picnic and they all dressed themselves in summer clothes, but when they stepped out of the house, they had to rush back in because of the coldness of the atmosphere outside. The picnic was cancelled and they just decided to stay home and play board games.

Cloud hated board games, especially those concerning money and property like Monopoly, which happens to be Tifa's favorite game. For some reason, the two children also loved the game; And all the while Cloud thought children normally hated mathematics and anything to do with business

Cloud hated Monopoly because he always seems to be the one to go bankrupt first and then he would have to sit around and wait for the whole game to finish in order not to disappoint the children if he left them to do something else. Tifa would always win, and she would always cheer victoriously when she did so. Her enthusiasm with winning in that money-related board game made him remember Rufus Shinra. "Maybe one day we could invite him over here for a little game of Monopoly and we'll see who'll win: Tifa or Rufus." He was thinking to himself, realizing those are the only entrepreneurs that he knows and he thought that a showdown between the two on who's better in business should be interesting.

Yet he never got the opportunity to ask Rufus whether he would like to come over or not to spend the afternoon playing Monopoly with Tifa and the children.

Everyday, ever since after the conflict with Kadaj et al, Rufus would constantly request for the company of Cloud. The recuperating man needed a friend and for some reason, he had found friendship in Cloud. Cloud, on the other hand, wasn't sure whether Rufus was the right friend for him, but he still continued to hang out with him everyday after work. Besides, Rufus just lived nearby in one of the semi-expensive apartments in Edge.

Rufus was a changed man, in Cloud's opinion, who chose not to be confined in a hospital anymore and just donate his remaining funds to the World Regenesis Organization instead of using them for his personal satisfaction to regain every worldly thing he had lost when Shinra came crumbling down. Besides, the Turks were there to take care of him. His condition had improved ever since his Geostigma got cured by Aerith's Holy Rain, yet the recuperation of his motor skills would still take a while to get back to normal. He would still need a wheelchair every now and then and his hands still cannot grasp things properly. His left eye, however, is still part-blind. The ophthalmologist told him that his eyesight on his left eye will eventually return if he took his medication as scheduled.

Cloud, however, also changed in a way. His friends were the first ones to notice it. He has become a little bit more sociable and less grumpy. He would smile more and his mood would always appear more pleasant unlike before when he would appear very gloomy especially in the morning. But his change of attitude made Tifa think that there was a catch to it, like he could be losing his mind or something, but in a way, she was pleased that he had become more optimistic… at least.

oOoOo

One particular cold mid-morning, when Cloud was on his way to Rufus's place from a delivery in Sector 6, he passed by the old Church. He stopped by the front door and then found himself drawn inside the place. Upon getting there, he began to reminisce the time when he last saw Aerith before she walked away from him. He was not yet sure though whether it was an illusion or not—seeing two dead friends: Aerith and Zack.

But then he recalled the two children who were crouched down a few meters away from the doorway. Aerith was also crouched down facing those children as if speaking to them. Cloud then wondered if he was the only one who was able to see her or if other people and the children had seen her too; yet he never asked his friends about it in fear of getting criticized negatively.

Aerith was never mentioned in Tifa's house. It was not like a bad word; it's just that, whenever the name is mentioned, everyone would fall into a spell of silence and would become melancholic for the rest of the day. Cloud thought that he was the only one who really cared about Aerith but he never discussed it with anyone except maybe for Rufus Shinra one day when he decided to try out what would happen if he lamented to his new friend. Cloud figured it could be a test whether Rufus could be counted on as a true friend or not. Much to his surprise, Rufus never said anything negative about his laments; he just listened attentively…

…well at least Cloud thought he was listening. Or he could have just been spacing out all the while.

Cloud stared at the remnants of the water from Aerith's blessing to cure all those with Geostigma. It had been several months ever since that water rained on the Planet; still, it was clean and pure. He smiled softly, his blue eyes being illuminated by the sunlight reflecting on the clean and clear water. Then he heard a sound of cracking wood from the main doorway behind him, the same doorway where Aerith and Zack had disappeared.

Cloud recognized the two children who were crouched down facing Aerith from months ago. Those were the two children whom Aerith seemed to have been talking to. One was a blonde little boy with light brown eyes, and the other one was a little girl with dark hair and blue eyes.

The two children, when Cloud turned around to face him, froze in their tracks and stared wide-eyed at him. It was the girl who accidentally stepped on debris of wood, causing a cracking sound.

As Cloud continued to stare at the children strangely, the little girl hid behind the little boy as if she was afraid.

Cloud snapped back into his senses and smiled weakly at the children. "H…hello," he greeted, trying to sound pleasant so as not to scare the children away. Being around Marlene and Denzel too much had taught him to be gentle to children and not to sound harsh or demanding.

The little boy eyed him curiously but he never said a world.

Cloud looked around, trying to think of something to say. "What are you kids doing here?" he asked curiously.

The little boy and the little girl just kept quiet.

He looked at them again. "You shouldn't be hanging out much here. It's dangerous. This is an old place—the ceiling might give way one day." He told them.

The little boy blinked. "If this is a dangerous place like what you said, how come we always see you here every now and then?" he asked.

Cloud's eyes widened.

"This place is holy, mister. I don't think it will crumble." The little boy pointed out.

"And how do you know that it's holy?" Cloud asked.

The little boy just stood still as he explained, "Well, first of all, you should never tell anyone else what we know—that this place is holy, otherwise, they will just desecrate it. It's only me and my sister who knows about this place being holy, and now there's you."

"Why are you telling me this?" Cloud asked, narrowing his eyes at the little boy.

The little boy smiled calmly at him. "Because she was here. She showed us." He answered confidently.

Cloud's eyes widened at him upon hearing his last statement. "…She?" he asked curiously.

The little boy bowed down his head yet still kept his gaze on Cloud. "…you know who she is. She said she knows you very well." He said softly. Then he felt his sister squeezing his left arm. He looked at her inquiringly.

She just looked at him as if warning him not to say anything else.

He pouted and looked at Cloud again. "We're sorry, Mister, but we have to go." He said before turning away and took his sister's hand.

Cloud went after them. "Wait. You're orphans aren't you?" he asked.

The children stopped walking. The little boy turned around to face Cloud again, but this time, Cloud was already in front of him and they were standing closely to each other. He looked up at Cloud. "Hmm… no, not really." He answered.

Cloud eyed him strangely. "What do you mean, not really?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

The little boy shrugged. "Let me see… how do I explain this… uh… our parents are still alive somewhere but we don't know where they are." He answered.

Cloud was quiet for a few moments before inquiring, "So where do you live?"

"We wander around like the other children. Took a lot of getting used to…" the little boy answered with a slight pout.

Cloud studied the features of the children more closely. "Took a lot of getting used to?" he repeated to himself. He observed the paleness of the children's faces, but their cheeks were a little flushed. They looked almost like porcelain dolls with the quality and lightness of their skin, and their hair looked very fine and taken care of. Their clothes, however, were old and filthy, but he imagined them wearing fine and expensive clothing. Then it dawned Cloud that these children could have once belonged to a rich family before their house was destroyed probably by Meteor or by Shinra when one of the plates fell on the lower Sectors two years ago. He recalled that Denzel had lost his parents when the plate fell over Sector 5 where an exclusive housing village for Shinra employees once stood. Cloud began to mind the time and the children, but he was torn between leaving them to go to Rufus and taking them with him and let them live under his and Tifa's care. "Will Tifa get angry if I just take these children home?" he wondered to himself. He began to reassure himself that Tifa has been the motherly one. "She even treats me like a child… so maybe she won't get angry if there are more children in her house…" he decided quietly before smiling calmly at the children. "Would you like to come home with me?" he asked.

The children stared up at him strangely but they were just quiet.

Cloud also thought that having these children around the house would be pleasant for him because he felt that these children would link him to Aerith. "It's quite nice there… I'm sharing a house with a friend who's like a sister… and we're taking care of another friend's daughter and an orphan boy. I figured that maybe you guys would like to live with us too." He explained.

The little boy exchanged looks with his sister before turning back to Cloud. "Okay." He answered, grinning, while the little girl nodded her head with a quiet smile on her face.

Cloud smiled pleasantly at the children. "Great." He said before motioning for them to follow him. He remembered that he was supposed to stop by Rufus's home first but decided to bring the children home to Tifa first before anything else because the children could be hungry already and they looked like they were getting sickly because of the cold, especially the little girl who appeared paler than her brother. "So… you two are siblings?" he asked, wanting to strike up a conversation with the children to get to know them better. He was never the type to initiate conversations with other people unless he was very familiar with them, but in the children's case, he felt comfortable with them even when it was their first meeting.

The blonde boy nodded. "Yep. She's actually my twin sister… but I'm older by 7 minutes." He answered proudly.

"Twins, huh? How old are you guys?" Cloud inquired.

"We're both 10." the little boy answered. "I'm Teddy by the way." He introduced happily.

Cloud looked at the little boy. "I'm Cloud." He introduced himself.

Teddy pointed at his sister with his thumb, "She's Sam." He introduced.

Sam just looked at Cloud strangely but did not say a word.

Cloud wondered what was wrong with her. "Doesn't she ever speak?" he blurted out.

Teddy shrugged. "She's a very shy girl." He answered.

Sam just bowed down her head, lowering her gaze to the ground as they continued their way to Edge.

Upon arriving at Tifa's house, Cloud decided to pass through the door of the bar. He knew that it would be open because he expected that Tifa would be cleaning the glasses to prepare for that night's business. He was right. And Tifa was there behind the counter cleaning the glasses. She looked up from what she was doing and stared at Cloud with a surprised look on her face. "Cloud!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide in awe upon seeing him back so early from work. Her gaze trailed toward the children who were standing behind Cloud but she was unable to say anything. She just stared at the children, eyeing them curiously, especially the little boy with light brown eyes. She thought she had seen her own eyes as a reflection on the mirror, but this time, it was in a little boy.

"Tifa, these are Teddy and Sam. I met them at the Church." Cloud introduced.

Tifa swallowed hard, her attention switching back to Cloud. "Oh. That's… nice." She answered, forcing a smile. She could feel the children staring at her knowingly as if they had known her before. Yet she could recall not seeing them before…

Cloud urged the children to get inside and led them to one of the booths, telling them to sit down there first while he discussed things with Tifa. The children sat down quietly and watched as Cloud approached Tifa. "I need to ask you a big favor." They heard him say.

Tifa frowned slightly.

Cloud sat on one of the tall stools facing the counter and rested his elbows on the counter as he leaned forward. Tifa just stood still, eyeing him curiously.

"They're orphans, Tifa." He began in a low voice he thought would be audible only for him and Tifa.

She tried to read the look on his face but she could not concentrate due to the fact that she could still feel the children's looks fixed on her.

He proceeded, "I told them that they could live with us… they don't have any place to go."

She blinked. "Cloud, of all the orphans roaming around in the streets of old Midgar and Edge, why did you choose those two to bring home here?" she asked in a hoarse whisper.

He shrugged. "I don't really know… they seem… important." He answered, not really knowing how to explain it to her.

"Important?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

He was quiet for a few moments before finally saying, "I just figured I should help them…"

Tifa could not understand what was going on in Cloud's head because he was not very articulate in expressing what really is on his mind. She just took a deep breath, deciding quietly that maybe he has a good reason for bringing those children home with him. "Well… I should try to trust him more if I want to remain friends with him." She thought silently before nodding her head. "Alright. They can stay. But they'll have to share rooms with Denzel and Marlene." She told him sternly.

Cloud thought she sounded like his mother. He fought the urge to laugh. "Thank you." He said before getting up. "I have to go. I'll be back by dinner." He said.

She widened her eyes at him. "You'll leave me here with these new kids? Where are you going?" she exclaimed.

Cloud faced her and eyed her warningly. "Shh! Keep it down!" he muttered through clenched teeth. He did not want the children to feel unwelcome in their new home. He took a quick glance at the children and saw that they were staring curiously at them. He smiled weakly at them before turning back to Tifa with a serious look on his face, "Now, be nice and take care of them while I'm gone. I'll just go to Rufus." He said in a low voice.

She frowned at him and placed her hands on her hips. "Rufus again, huh? You never take me to visit him." She said, rolling her eyes.

Cloud blinked. "I never knew Rufus interested you!" he pointed out with an amused look on his face.

Tifa turned away. "Well based from your stories, he's a nice guy. I'd like to prove it to myself so that maybe my guilt of hating him would cease…" she muttered, hoping that he did not hear her voice faltering somewhere in her last sentence.

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh. I see. Then why didn't you say so?" he asked, shrugging. "But not today. Maybe I'll just invite him over here sometime since you can't leave the bar and the children." He said before proceeding to the door. "Tifa will take care of you, okay? I'll see you kids later." He told Teddy and Sam before leaving.

As soon as the door closed, Tifa turned around to face the children. She smiled gently at them. "Teddy and Sam, correct?" she asked, wanting to be sure she got their names right from Cloud.

The little boy nodded. "Yes, Miss Tifa." He answered pleasantly.

"Oh please, just _Tifa_." She corrected with a smile.

The little boy blinked. "Oh. Okay. Tifa." He repeated.

Tifa stepped away from the counter and approached them. "Come on, let's take you upstairs so you can meet Denzel and Marlene." She said.

Teddy and Sam got up.

Tifa eyed the children curiously. They were the most beautiful children she had ever seen. Teddy's blonde hair could be comparable to Rufus Shinra's blonde hair—soft, fine and strawberry blonde in shade. As for Sam's hair, her hair was up to her shoulders, stick straight, shiny and almost as black as the darkest evening sky Tifa could ever imagine. Her eyes were the bluest she has ever seen and she felt like she was looking into the ocean whenever she would gaze into Sam's eyes. Overall, she thought that those two kids resembled the dolls she never had a child. She smiled at them admiringly before leading the way to the stairs. "So, where did you kids come from?" she asked.

"Midgar." Teddy answered simply.

"Midgar is a big place. Where in Midgar?" she asked.

Teddy was hesitant to speak for a moment but did so anyway, "…Sector 1."

Tifa's eyes widened a little. "So that explains their features. They look like the children of rich people… and their accents give them away too. They speak like Rufus." she thought to herself. "Er… what happened to your parents… if you don't mind…" she asked.

"Hmm… not really sure. They just disappeared." Teddy answered. To Tifa's wonder, he sounded pleasant and not melancholic or confused. Now she became confused whether he was telling the truth or not. "What if they just ran away from home? But oh well, what rich children would run away from their home if they have everything they could ever want in life?" she thought to herself with a speculative look on her face as she climbed up the stairs with the children. "Disappeared? Were they kidnapped?" she inquired.

"Not really sure, Tifa. One day Sam and I woke up and they're gone." He answered simply.

Tifa figured that Teddy might not be able to explain what exactly happened to their parents for now, so she just decided to change the subject. "I noticed I haven't heard Sam speak yet. How old are you, Sam?" she asked pleasantly with a singsong voice.

The little girl obviously did not answer.

Teddy spoke up. "She's really painfully shy around strangers. But anyway, we're both 10. She's actually my twin sister but I'm older by 7 minutes."

Tifa blinked. "Oh. I see. Well, there really is no reason to be shy around me, especially since I'll be taking care of you guys." She said pleasantly as they reached the second floor. She led the way to Denzel and Marlene's room where the two were drawing pictures with their crayons.

As Tifa opened the door, Denzel and Marlene looked up at her as they remained seated on the floor, but they stopped drawing. "Oh, hi, Tifa." Marlene greeted happily.

Tifa smiled kindly at them before stepping aside to let them see the two new children standing behind her.

Denzel and Marlene stared curiously at the new children. "Oh. Hello." The latter greeted.

Teddy smiled happily at them. He seemed to be a very pleasant child, always eager to sincerely make new friends with a sunny disposition. "Hello there! I'm Teddy. And this is my twin sister Sam." He introduced cheerfully as she grabbed his sister's hand and stepped inside the room. He approached Denzel and Marlene who were still seated on the floor and staring curiously at him and his sister, and he offered a handshake to them. "Very pleased to meet the two of you!" he said happily.

Marlene got up and wiped her hands on her skirt for a moment before shaking hands with Teddy. She smiled cheerfully. "Pleased to meet you too, Teddy. I'm Marlene." She introduced herself.

Denzel eyed Sam curiously before getting up to shake hands with Teddy. "I'm Denzel. Great to meet you." He said with a slight smile on his face.

Sam turned her gaze towards the bed and saw a teddy bear. She continued to stare at the teddy bear.

Marlene noticed that Sam seemed to be fond of the teddy bear. She smiled. "You like teddy bears, Sam?" she asked before getting the teddy bear from the bed. "It's old but he's clean." She said, handing the bear to her new friend.

Sam smiled softly as she got the bear and looked at it closely. "I had one of these back home." She said softly.

Tifa was amused that Sam finally spoke up. Her voice was soft yet low.

"Really? What happened to it?" Marlene asked.

Sam's smile faded away as she returned the teddy bear to Marlene. "I don't know…" she murmured softly that it was almost inaudible to everybody else but Marlene.

Marlene pouted, sympathizing with her. She placed the teddy bear back on the bed. "Aw… that's too sad. If I lost this, I'd be sad too." she said before facing Sam again. "But don't worry, you can play with my teddy bear whenever you want to." She said cheerfully.

Sam just nodded slowly before looking at her twin brother who had already joined Denzel in drawing pictures on the floor.

Marlene took Sam's hand. "Come here, I'll show you my other dolls!" she said pleasantly before leading the way to the shelf where she keeps her other toys.

Tifa smiled, pleased that Marlene and Denzel had warmed up quite faster than expected to the new children. With that, she exited without saying a word.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

oOoOo

"So you now have 4 children in your home. Splendid." Rufus remarked with a serious look on his face, although his tone was teasing.

Cloud kept a straight face. "I don't know, Rufus. I just had to take those children in. It's like something inside me made me do so… hard to explain." He answered in a hesitant manner.

Rufus eyed him curiously. "Are you sure you're not turning into a pedophile?" he asked haughtily.

Cloud eyed him warningly. "I'm not in the mood for jokes, Shinra." He muttered.

"Well too bad because I am, Strife." Rufus answered airily.

Cloud just smiled stiffly. Sometimes he just does not want to argue with him. He just looked away. "You know maybe you can join us for dinner sometime." He said, wanting to change the subject.

"I get it. You want me to meet your new children. Sure, I'd love to meet them." Rufus answered, rolling his eyes.

"I figured you'd like them since they look like they belong to a rich family." Cloud pointed out, wanting to get his interest.

"But you said they're orphans."

Cloud shrugged. "Now I'm not sure because they said their parents just disappeared. Who knows, they could be alive somewhere. Tell you what, maybe when you meet these kids, you might be able to recognize them." He said.

"What makes you think I could recognize those children? I'll bet I haven't even seen them in my whole life." Rufus pointed out.

"I just figured that as the President, maybe you've met them before in social gatherings?" Cloud asked.

Rufus leaned back on his chair. "We'll see." He said. "I think I'll join you tonight for dinner." He decided.

Cloud was quiet for a while before saying, "Sure. What time will your Turks bring you there?"

"No, I think I'll go with you when you head back home." Rufus decided.

"Oh no. I have to bring you home afterwards…" Cloud muttered with a disgruntled look on his face.

"You don't have to. I can spend the night at your place. Just provide me a clean room." Rufus told him.

Cloud eyed him strangely. "Did your Turks poison you or did you fall when you were trying to walk and you hit your head somewhere?" he asked.

Rufus thought that he was being sarcastic. "I meant what I said." He told Cloud.

Cloud shook his head. "The only vacant room in the house is Barret's room since he's in Corel at the moment, and he doesn't like anyone entering his room." He told him.

"Well then just sleep on the couch tonight and I'll occupy your room instead." Rufus said coolly, flipping his hair in the process. He smiled smugly at Cloud.

Cloud just eyed him with a glum look. "No. And whatever gave you the enthusiasm to stay for the night?" he wondered.

"Just want a change of atmosphere, that's all." Rufus answered, looking away. "And maybe we can leave now." He told Cloud.

"Are you sure?" Cloud asked, wondering to himself how he was going to explain things to Tifa.

"I am sure." Rufus answered with a smug look on his face.

oOoOo

Tifa was having lunch with the four children. Recalling the origins of the two new children under her care, she apologized for serving such simple food which consisted of a simple tuna sandwich and mashed potatoes. "We don't really have much here so…" Tifa began to explain.

"It's alright, Tifa. You don't need to apologize." Teddy said, interrupting her. He smiled reassuringly at her and started to eat. "This is yummy! I think this is the best sandwich I've ever had!" he said happily.

"Tifa is a great cook!" Marlene said proudly.

Tifa has never been really proud of her cooking even when the children say so. She just kept silent and smiled softly before turning her attention to Sam who was just seated quietly and eyeing her with her blue eyes wide in curiosity. "Is there something wrong with your food, Sam?" she asked gently.

Sam shook her head and then picked up her fork to start eating the mashed potatoes. She kept glancing every now and then at Tifa, however, and Tifa easily noticed it.

Tifa tried her best not to get bothered by the girl staring at her strangely as she ate.

Teddy was the chatty one. He seemed to have a lot of stories to tell and he never failed to amuse Denzel and Marlene with his stories about travels, the places he had seen outside Midgar, technology, animals, cars, the books he read, what he learned in school, video games, plants… almost anything under the sun. Tifa was also amused with Teddy that he was so talkative she found herself not getting bored at all. However, she just noticed one thing: he never talked about his family, specifically his parents. She then turned her attention to Sam who was still staring at her. She smiled at the little girl. "Is there anything wrong, Sam?" she asked gently.

Teddy fell silent and turned his attention to his twin sister who was still staring at Tifa. He looked at Tifa and smiled at her. "Don't mind her, Tifa. She just remembers our mommy whenever she looks at you." He said reassuringly.

Tifa looked at him unbelievably. "What?" she asked in awe.

Teddy grinned. "You actually look like our mommy, Tifa. Very much like her. You even talk and move like her." He explained.

Denzel and Marlene eyed Tifa curiously. "Tifa," the latter began.

"Yes, Marlene?" Tifa turned to Marlene.

"Did you have any children before?" Marlene asked curiously.

Tifa frowned slightly. "No, of course not! I'm not even married!" she said with a weak smile on her face. Where did Marlene ever get the idea?  
"Silly, Marlene! Tifa's only 22. Sam and Teddy are 10. If she's their mother, she would've given birth to them when she was only 12 or something." Denzel said, chuckling lightly.

"You've been watching too much television, Marlene," Tifa said lightheartedly, figuring that she must have picked it up from a TV show. She turned her attention back to Sam and looked at her curiously with a slight smile on her face. "Tell me something about your mommy." She said gently.

Sam's eyes widened and she blushed, looking down at her food and biting her lower lip.

Everyone was silent for a moment, and Teddy was already thinking whether he should answer for his twin or not. But then Sam looked up at Tifa again and smiled shyly. "She's… just like you." She said softly.

Marlene smiled dreamily. "Aw… I'm sure your mommy is a very beautiful woman!" she remarked.

Teddy looked up at the ceiling with a reminiscent look on his face. "She is, actually." He told them.

Tifa began to feel curious about their mother, trying to picture her in her head. But then she began to wonder about their father too. "What about your daddy?" she asked, looking at Teddy curiously.

Teddy took a bite of his sandwich, chewed quickly and swallowed before answering proudly, "People say I look so much like daddy except that I have the color of mommy's eyes. But if you make them blue like Sam's, well… you get the picture."

Tifa began to imagine Teddy with blue eyes and the image of a man she knows entered her mind. She blinked and raised her eyebrows. "Well… that's… nice." She remarked softly before proceeding to eat.

"What does your daddy do for a living, Teddy?" Marlene asked.

"Oh. He's a businessman. He's a politician too." he answered.

"Politician?" Tifa thought quietly. She began to recall other politicians from Midgar but then she could only remember Rufus Shinra, Mayor Domino, and of course, Rufus's dead father. She frowned slightly. "But then maybe there are underground politicians elected by Rufus or his father…" she thought silently while eyeing Teddy curiously.

"Tifa," Denzel began, interrupting her thoughts.

She turned to him. "Yes?" she asked.

"When is Cloud returning?" he asked.

Tifa blinked. "I… don't really know…" she answered softly.

And then she heard the front door open, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps and something with wheels against the wooden floor. Tifa got up, wondering who it was, until Cloud came into view from the doorway leading to the kitchen where she was. "You're back quite earlier than expected." She pointed out before turning her gaze to the man seated on a wheelchair that Cloud was wheeling. "What is he doing here?" she asked.

"He's a guest." Cloud answered simply.

Rufus smiled at her. "I'd stand up to shake hands with you but unfortunately, I'm still confined to this wheelchair until I can walk properly again." he said.

She shook her head. "No, no, that's fine. No need to shake hands with me, Mr. President." She answered quite nervously. It was the closest she has ever been to him in a long while and she felt uncomfortable because just being around him brought back a lot of traumatizing moments… such as almost getting gassed in Junon. She turned away and faced the children. "Children, I'd like you to meet Rufus Shinra. He's the President and he's very good friends with Cloud." She told them.

Denzel just looked at Rufus with a scrutinizing stare, while Marlene smiled eagerly at him and even got up to approach him. "Hello, Mister President! It's so very nice to meet you!" she said cheerfully.

Rufus smiled kindly at Marlene and patted her head gently. "You must be Marlene." He said.

"Uh-huh! And that's Denzel over there," Marlene pointed at Denzel who was still seated on his chair. "And that's Teddy and that's Sam." She introduced proudly.

Sam was looking at Rufus with her eyes wide as if she had seen him before and she knows who he is. Teddy, on the other hand, was smiling pleasantly at him. "Pleased to meet you, sir." He said as he got up to approach him. He reached out a hand to Rufus, offering a handshake.

Rufus eyed Theodore with a stunned look on his face for a few moments before he smiled weakly at the boy and accepted the handshake. "Ah. Same here, Teddy." He managed to say, keeping his gaze on the boy's face.

Teddy withdrew his hand and moved away, but he was still smiling at Rufus.

"What's for lunch?" Cloud asked Tifa.

"Tuna sandwiches and mashed potatoes." She answered half-heartedly.

"Could you serve Rufus for a moment? I need to go to the bathroom." Cloud told her before rushing to the stairs. "Don't do anything to hurt him!" he called out in a joking manner, knowing how much his friend despised Shinra, and Rufus happens to be one of them.

Tifa pouted. "Of course not!" she called back before turning her gaze to Rufus, smiling weakly at him. "Pardon this place, sir. It's not as lovely as your usual surroundings…" she began.

"Why are you always apologizing for the state of your living? I don't see anything sorry about it," Teddy interrupted.

Tifa was taken aback.

"You have a place to live and a family to come home to. I think you should be proud of it." Teddy continued.

Tifa turned around to face Teddy who was looking at her with a gentle smile on his face. She smiled gently at the little boy but did not say anything. She turned back to Rufus when she heard him speak, "Just call me _Rufus_."

oOoOo

Cloud got out of the bathroom and on his way to the stairs, he passed by the children's room. The door was left wide open and he took it as an opportunity to peek inside to see what the children had been up to while he was away. He stepped inside when he saw the drawings scattered on the floor and on the beds. One of the drawings caught his attention. He thought the figures on the paper resembled him and the other one was Aerith. He smiled pleasantly as he picked it up and stared at it, wondering who did it. He was thinking of keeping it with him… or even have it hung it on the wall of his own room too.

He was interrupted when he heard one of the wooden floorboards by the doorway creak—a sign that someone was there. He turned around and saw Sam staring curiously at him.

Cloud eyed her curiously before realizing that he was still holding the drawing. He smiled weakly. "Did you draw this?" he asked, showing it to her.

Sam just stared at it blankly.

Cloud slowly breathed in. "Oh well… no use talking to her. I don't think she'll even respond…" he was thinking to himself. But to his surprise, she opened her mouth and said something, "Yes I did."

He looked at her in awe. She just stared back at him with her wide blue eyes.

Cloud approached her and led her inside the room before closing the door. He wanted to have a little privacy with the little girl for a moment to ask her some questions. "Sit down," he said.

She walked over to a chair by Denzel's bed and sat down properly. Cloud observed her posture and the way she seated herself. It was unusual for ordinary children who grew up in the slums to sit down like she did: very poised. She was like a princess. He eyed her suspiciously. "Tell me who you are." He said as he remained standing before her.

She just looked up at him. "And what will you do once you find out the truth about me?" she asked softly.

Cloud just kept silent. What will he do? What if she reveals something very important but it will be shocking for him to bear? Will he be able to handle the truth?

She smiled calmly at him. "I'll tell you everything you want to know about me, Teddy… and of course, Aerith… but in return, you have to help us." She said.

Cloud widened his eyes at her. "Help you?" he asked.

Sam bowed down her head and kept her gaze on her shoes. "Do you believe that there is a parallel universe out there? A place that looks better than this one… a place more advanced than this one, a place more peaceful?" she asked.

Cloud frowned slightly but he did not answer.

She looked up at him again. "Teddy and I come from that place." She said.

He stared strangely at her. "Where is this place?" he asked softly, still feeling shocked.

"Somewhere. With my power I can take us back there." She said. "You see, I'm just one of those special people who can open up the passageway that connects my world to yours." She explained. "Anyway, in my world, there is someone there like Tifa, and then like Rufus too… also like Denzel and Marlene… Everyone, basically… except for you." She pointed out.

He was unable to speak.

"We'd like to take you back to where we came from to make everything right." she explained.

"…Why, what's wrong with your… world?" Cloud asked, unsure of what to refer to the place where Teddy and Sam had come from.

"It's incomplete. You're not there. And Aerith is lonely." She said with a sad look on her face.

His eyes widened at her. "…Aerith?" he repeated.

She smiled knowingly and nodded. "Now this is what you have to do: you have to come with me and Teddy back to our place so that we can introduce you to Aerith." She explained.

"Wait a sec, how are you related to Aerith and why do you know her?" he asked in confusion.

"From where I come from she is still very young unlike my parents. She is a good friend of my parents because her daddy works for my family: The Shinras." She explained.

"Shinra?" Cloud asked. His heart skipped a beat.

"In my world, my daddy is Rufus and my mommy is Tifa. They are way older than the Tifa and the Rufus that you know here. My parents are already in their early 40's. They married when mommy was still 20 and daddy was 21. That's how different life is from where Teddy and I came from." She explained carefully.

Cloud began to rethink of what she just mentioned to him. "But it's a different world…" he said softly.

Sam smiled secretly. Everything was going according to plan and she was happy. She got up and approached him again, taking his hand. "It is a different world, Cloud, but everything is pretty much the same… only better." She said softly.

He looked at her in disbelief. Was he dreaming? Or is this girl telling him lies? "You know, Sam, it's not really nice to lie…" he began.

"I'm not lying. I never lie. Mommy tells me it's bad." She said sternly before letting him go.

"But … in your world, Tifa and Rufus are in their 40's… so that means, Aerith is in her 40's too?" he asked.

"No. She's only 24." Sam answered.

Cloud eyed her suspiciously. "Why did you come here?" he asked, wanting to know the real reason.

She smiled. "I already told you the reason." She said before stepping away from him.

He shook his head. "I mean, how did you know where to find me?" he asked.

Sam smiled calmly. "She told me." She said before going to the door. "Teddy and I will be at the Forgotten Capital in case you want to go." She said before stepping out of the room. Teddy was standing by the stairs and smiling at her. "And I know you want to go, Cloud." She continued before shutting the door behind her.

Teddy crossed his arms. "I already told Tifa and Rufus that we're going to play outside." he said.

She just walked to her twin brother quietly and took his hand. Together, they descended the stairs and he called out to Tifa, "We'll be back!"

oOoOo

Cloud was disturbed. Who were those children? Maybe they just escaped from an asylum and the two have dementia or something, he was not really sure but he could not believe what he had heard.

"_She told me._"

Sam's statement kept on repeating in his head enough to drive him to the brink of more confusion and anger at the same time—anger because to him, Aerith is a very sacred person now, and speaking ill of her is like sacrilege to him.

"_She told me._"

Cloud ran to the door and stepped out of the room, ran downstairs and went straight to the front door, but as he opened it, he stopped in his tracks when he heard Marlene from behind him inquiring, "Where are you going, Cloud?"

He just kept a straight face, staring outside at the street. He did not face her but he said, "Don't wait up." And he ran off, not even bothering to close the front door on his way out.

Marlene, perplexed with his behavior, just went back to the kitchen to help Tifa in feeding Rufus.

oOoOo

It was near sunset when Cloud reached the Forgotten Capital. He rode his Fenrir all the way there and upon arrival, he began to search for the children.

There was something odd in the air above him and the atmosphere seemed to be murkier than usual. "Sam! Teddy!" he called out with a stern tone. His voice echoed all over the place and he wondered if somebody else was there—maybe even Vincent, he thought.

But nothing else moved or responded to him.

Carefully, he walked over to the lake and peered at the dark water. The water returned several memories to him, especially Aerith, whom he had decided to bury there. Thinking about it made him feel depressed and he could not help but feel sorry for himself and for what happened.

He stood there for a few moments, gazing at the water and at the other side of the lake, wondering where the children were. When he got sick of waiting for them to show up, he turned to leave, but then he froze when he saw the children just standing close in front of him, gazing up at him with strange stares in their big eyes. Cloud recognized the largeness of their eyes, remembering Tifa's own.

He then noticed the children's clothes. They have changed. The last time he saw them they were dressed in rags, now they were dressed in fine clothing. Teddy was wearing a black turtleneck sweater, a white blazer, white trousers and brown leather shoes and seeing him in those clothes made Cloud easily picture Rufus Shinra as a child, except that this child has Tifa's brown eyes. As for Sam, she was already wearing a black dress, a white cardigan, white stockings and black leather shoes. He thought she resembled Tifa when she was still a child, except that this little girl in front of him had Rufus's blue eyes.

Cloud thought that they looked like dolls and it made him feel disturbed that he was at a loss for words.

Teddy smiled at him. "Hello, Cloud. Nice of you to finally join us." He said before he and Sam simultaneously pushed Cloud into the lake.

Cloud felt as if he had lost control of his senses and his movement. He just sank further into the lake, his eyes wide in shock. The children were not getting into the water; they were just watching him sink further into the lake…

Watching him drown.

Watching him _die_.

Cloud wanted to move and swim upwards again. Maybe those children had tricked him. But he could not move. He could not even close his eyes. But for some reason, he could breathe… and it made him feel very afraid.

"What's going on?" he was panicking in his mind but his facial expression and the look in his eyes remained blank and unchanging; and then memory of watching Aerith sinking when he let go of her dead body in that same lake flooded his mind and his vision as if the whole thing was happening again in front of him, although he deemed it very impossible. But then something weird changed in that memory: she opened her eyes, looked at him in horror and reached out to him, as if struggling to breathe and swim back towards him as he watched her drown. But he did not do anything, it was as if he just watched her die again when he knew she had come back to life.

Cloud Strife opened his mouth and tried to scream a "NO!" but no sound came out.

And everything turned black.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Gasping as he sat up on a bed, Cloud stared wide-eyed at the big window in front of him and the parted light blue and beige drapes. "Where am I?" he wondered out loud as he raised his left hand to his face to shield the sunlight directly hitting his face. He realized that he was in a rather large hotel room with gray-blue walls and dark blue carpet… and he also realized that he was wearing basically nothing underneath the blankets and that his left ring finger had a silver ring around it.

A wedding ring.

His eyes widened.

He almost jumped out of bed in surprise when he felt someone touch his right hand. "Cloud," said a soft and gentle voice.

He just sat still, staring at the hand in awe. He also recognized the voice; it was the voice that he had been longing to hear again for real instead of hearing it in his mind. His gaze traveled to the owner of the voice, Aerith Gainsborough, who was seated beside him on the bed seemingly naked like him too because she was using the blanket to cover herself.

Cloud was overwhelmed to see her like that with her hair all long and wavy and a little messed up from sleep, and her eyes gave off the fact that she had just awoken from a deep sleep when he woke up.

She smiled gently yet sleepily at him. "You're here." She said softly.

Cloud opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out. He just stared in awe at her.

Aerith could not stop smiling at him as she continued to stare into his blue eyes. "You're actually here…" she said as she moved closer to touch his shoulders, and her hands moved down to his chest as if she was feeling him.

Cloud felt weird with her hands groping him and feeling his upper body including his face, and he noticed that she was also wearing the same wedding ring around her left ring finger. He moved away from her and got up from the bed, grabbing one of the blankets to cover the lower part of his body. "Who are you?" he asked.

She blinked. "It's me, Aerith." She said gently.

"…You are?" he asked, coming near her again. He began to recall what happened. "The last thing I remember… was… the lake… drowning… but I can breathe… and…" he was mumbling as he continued to stare at her.

Her smile faded away. "They took you from _there_, didn't they?" she asked softly.

Cloud froze. "What?" he asked.

She got up, kneeling on the bed but making sure a blanket is still wrapped around her body. She spoke in a low and soft tone as if somebody else might hear her so she is cautious, "It's me, Aerith. Aerith Gainsborough. The real one."

Cloud gaped at her. What was she trying to say by stating that she is the real Aerith?

"Cloud, we're trapped in this world that isn't our own. This is a different world." She told him.

He was quiet, staring at her with his wide blue eyes, not knowing what to do or how to react. Aerith looked towards the window. "Take a look outside." She said.

Cloud slowly moved to the window and then looked outside. His eyes widened upon realizing that they were in a very high place and there was a different-looking Shinra building at the center of the whole city. The city seemed cleaner, the skies were so clear there were few clouds hovering above, and everyone seems to be busy doing something. Beyond Midgar, however, Cloud could not see, because the places beyond Midgar seem to be enveloped in a thick fog. He thought it was weird and he turned to face Aerith again but when he did so, he observed that she was already putting on a bathrobe. "I don't understand. Is this really Midgar?" he asked her.

She faced him with a worried look on her face. "This is the Other Midgar." She explained.

"The _Other_ Midgar?" Cloud asked.

Aerith thought for a while before explaining. "Think of this place like an alternate universe. At first I thought this is where dead people go when they die, but apparently not. Zack and I… we took a good look around and realized that this isn't the Lifestream or anything; instead, this is a different place. The people are very similar to the people from where we come from but for some instances, different in terms of age, status and behavior."

Cloud narrowed his eyes at her. "You and Zack?" he asked.

"Oh don't get it wrong, Cloud. In this place he's married to the Other Yuffie, daughter of the Other Lord Godo whose water company is affiliated with the Other Shinras." She explained.

Cloud just stared at her unbelievably.

"I know you won't believe me right now but I'll take you exploring later on… and I'm sure _they_ will check on us later too so you'll be meeting all of them anyway. Then you'll see how very different the people and this place is from our world… like for example, the Mayor of this city is the Other Barret Wallace." She explained.

"What?" he asked in disbelief. "Barret?" he asked before turning away, looking outside the window again. "But how did you end up here? I thought you're…" he trailed off. He still could not bring himself to say it.

"Dead?" she finished for him.

He turned to her again with a troubled look on his face.

She smiled as she approached him, taking his hand. "It's alright, Cloud. That's what I thought too. Do you remember what happened in the Church?" she asked.

Cloud swallowed hard. "Y…yeah. You turned to leave. And Zack left too… I thought you had gone back to the Lifestream…" he stammered, not really knowing what to say.

"Well we tried to… but then something happened." She said, the look in her eyes turning serious. "When Zack and I stepped out of the Church, everything was dark. I was scared, Cloud. Zack was suddenly gone. I looked back and saw the Church again… and you were still there, looking at where I was but you were still smiling like you're in a trance. It can see everyone very happy in that Church, but the darkness around me scared me. But I couldn't do anything. Did you notice the two children that I was with by the door?" she asked.

Cloud frowned slightly. "Sam and Teddy." He pointed out.

Aerith frowned slightly. "Are those the names they told you?" she asked.

He nodded.

"They are Samara and Theodore. Sam and Teddy aren't even their real nicknames… and I don't think their parents ever gave them nicknames." She explained. "I don't even think anybody around here has nicknames! They all refer to each other by their first names! Like the Other Sephiroth. If you call him Sephy, he'll look at you strangely and ask who that person is!" she continued.

Cloud's eyes widened at her. "There's a Sephiroth here?" he asked.

"Yes. But the Other Sephiroth is nicer… and maybe saner, I could say… and he's the eldest son of the Other Vincent and the Other Lucrecia. The Other Sephiroth works as the head of the Peace Keepings Division of the Other Shinra and is the highest-ranking general in SOLDIER. The Other Vincent works as the head of the Turks and he doesn't have a metal arm. As for the Other Lucrecia, she is the head scientist of the Science Department." She explained.

"You seem to know a lot now." He realized.

She smiled weakly. "Ever since the first time I got here, they've been visiting me everyday! And since I'm 24, I get to hang out with the older kids of the Other Tifa and the Other Rufus, and also the older kids of the Other Vincent and the Other Lucrecia." She explained. "But you know what's strange? It's like everyone existed here before we arrived here, except for the two of us." She continued, lowering her voice.

He looked strangely at her. "How did you find yourself here?" he asked.

She sighed heavily. "I opened my eyes and I was in a room with pink flowery wallpaper. It's a bungalow-type house, and my parents are alive… well at least my Other parents." She said halfheartedly.

"But… why are we here?" he asked.

"I don't know. The last thing I remember was blacking out while I was having afternoon tea with the Other Vincent and the Other Rufus. And then I was already here with you. Apparently we're married…" she said, blushing slightly and looking at her ring.

Cloud looked at his wedding ring. "…Yeah… we are…" he said softly. Something inside him made him feel all giggly but he tried to control himself. He would not want to appear weird in front of Aerith during that already-weird situation Sam and Teddy had gotten them into. "Sam told me that I am needed here to make everything alright; I asked her how did they find me, she said you told them where I was." He said bluntly.

Her eyes widened at him. "I never said anything to them!" she said.

"You didn't?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I swear, I didn't." she said, her eyes looking so sincere he could not find the nerve to mistrust her. Besides, when did she ever lie to him?

"They always have a way of knowing things, I just don't know how they do." She pointed out.

Cloud swallowed hard, nodding slowly. "But what did they mean by making everything alright by bringing the two of us here? Sam sounded like it's rather urgent that they transport me here to meet you so that everything will be alright. She also stated that you're lonely." He told her.

She breathed in, not really knowing what the answer is to his question. "I'm not really sure right now, but we have to be careful. As much as possible we should watch out for ourselves." She said before moving away from him, looking outside the window. "I tried to leave this place but there seems to be nothing beyond the fog around the city." She explained. "And when they found me wandering by the borders, the Other Rufus told me never to leave." She continued with a confused look on her face. "He spoke to me like I was a child… well I am younger than he is anyway in this world. But the way he looked at me… and the way the others looked at me too, it scared me, Cloud. It's like I'm not allowed to commit a mistake anymore!" she explained with a troubled look on her face.

Cloud stood beside her. "But what about Zack?" he asked.

"I haven't seen him for days now, but he seems happy with his life here." She smiled. "He's well-off, he has a daughter named Kairi, and the Other Yuffie loves him very much. I couldn't even imagine the real Yuffie with him, but when you see them, you'll get what I mean." She continued, giggling.

Cloud smiled. He loved hearing her laughter. He did not say anything, he just gazed at her while reflecting on the fact that she is alive and actually with him although he was unsure whether if he returns to his own world, she'd be dead again. "If this is real…" he thought silently as he moved closer to her and embraced her.

She blinked, surprised with that sudden move of his. He used to be very shy in expressing his emotions towards other people, but then he was hugging her.

"I'm married to you, Aerith. We're… together." He said, feeling contented all of a sudden. He did not know how to really express his joy. "But at least we're married." He thought silently, closing his eyes to relish the moment of having her in his arms.

She smiled, returning his embrace, but she was quiet. She knew she should be happy that they are finally together even if their environment is odd, but she could still feel that something unpleasant will happen in exchange for their happiness of being together. "I guess this is our honeymoon if this is a hotel suite." She said weakly.

They were interrupted, almost jumping away from each other, when the telephone began to ring. They both stared at it with dumbfounded looks on their faces. But somebody had to answer it so Aerith took the initiative to do so, after all, she was the one who was more familiar with the world they are in. "Hello?" she greeted weakly.

"Good morning, Aerith!" greeted a familiar female voice.

Aerith smiled weakly. "Hello, Morrigan." She greeted, trying to sound pleasant.

"So, how was your honeymoon?" the girl from the other line asked cheerfully.

Aerith was not really sure how to answer the question because she could not even remember the wedding and the events prior to the present. "It was… great!" she answered.

"Oh. Cool. Oh yeah, just so you know, Cloud can get back to work by next month. All the EVP work is being taken care of by Slate anyway so you have all the time in the world to be with him. Oh yeah, on your house blessing, can I come over?"

Aerith swallowed hard. "House blessing…" she thought silently before responding, "Of course. You know the address?" she asked, because she herself does not know it.

"Sector 1 Executive Village, right? House number 6 down the hill where the Valentine Mansion stands, is that it?" Morrigan asked.

Aerith began to recall the way to that place. "Yes. That's it." She answered, though unsure.

"Okay. And how's Cloud? Damn, you married a big-shot man! You're so lucky!" Morrigan continued to chat.

Aerith looked at Cloud and smiled reassuringly at him. "He's practically fine. He looks very pleased. Uhm… I have to go. I still have to attend to my _husband_. I think he needs me right now…" she said.

Cloud just stood still, observing her behavior. He could tell that she was uneasy.

Aerith hung up after saying goodbye and then took a deep breath. "So far, what I know about you in this world is that you're the External Vice President of the Other Shinra, so that makes you someone favorable in the eyes of Rufus to be able to get promoted just like that. You seem like a rich guy here because we have a house in the rich-people village of Midgar just near the Other Vincent's big mansion, so I'll bet our house is quite big too." she explained to him.

Cloud was silent for a few moments. "Wow." Was all he could say in monotone, although his eyes were wide in awe. In that world he is rich and has a high position in Shinra… and most importantly, he is married to Aerith. It was like a dream. "And what about you? What is your life here?" he asked.

She swallowed hard. "It's… something I never dreamed of becoming: a rich socialite… like my Other mother here who hails from a very rich family. My Other father is a scientist in Shinra and he really earns a lot of money with his job there." She explained, feeling embarrassed about her social status.

Cloud stared at her in awe. "What's so bad about that? You're rich and you don't need to work! You are basically covered for the rest of your life." He told her.

She shook her head. "I'm not used to this kind of lifestyle." She admitted, bowing her head.

He smiled slightly before turning to the window to look outside. "Well, I think I'll be having a hard time adjusting too. But we'll help each other here, okay?" he asked.

She looked at him with a gentle smile on her face, her eyes twinkling in enthusiasm. She nodded.

oOoOo

Cloud and Aerith ate their breakfast at the hotel lobby restaurant and while in the middle of eating their meal, the Other Rufus arrived accompanied by the Other Vincent. The two joined them in their table.

The Other Rufus smiled pleasantly at Cloud. It was the kind of smile that made Cloud feel uncomfortable towards the Other Rufus because he could not imagine the real one doing such a thing. "So, enjoying the hotel accommodations so far?" Rufus asked him.

Cloud blinked, exchanging looks with Aerith. He figured that Rufus was the one who made the reservations and took care of everything. "Everything's great. Thank you, Rufus." Cloud answered. Then to his surprise, he saw Sam and Teddy arriving with the Other Sephiroth. They joined their table. Cloud stared wide-eyed at the children.

"Hello, daddy." Theodore greeted as he sat down by his father's right side, while his twin sat by their father's left.

"Hello, Theodore." Rufus greeted happily.

Cloud could not help but observe the seemingly glassy look in the eyes of the Other Rufus, as well as the Other Vincent and the Other Sephiroth, who were both smiling at him as well.

Aerith just continued to eat, trying to act normal around the Others.

Cloud turned his attention to Samara. "Why exactly did you bring us here?" he asked directly.

Aerith was surprised in his courage to just speak like that to the little girl.

Samara just sat still and never answered.

Cloud was getting impatient so he turned to Theodore with an inquiring stare. Theodore just looked past him and said, "Daddy, I'd like to order a cup of hot chocolate. Can I summon the waiter now?"

"Yes, son. Order whatever you want." The Other Rufus answered.

"You see what I mean when I say they visit me everyday? Later on you'll meet the Other ones." Aerith told him.

"And they let us talk this way without reprimanding us?" Cloud asked her.

"We can talk about them while they're around and they wouldn't care even if we say something very negative about them. They'll just be so passive about it." Aerith explained.

But Cloud was having doubts about what she said when he noticed Samara and Theodore looking at him with their big eyes. He frowned at them, suspicious about their behavior. He began to wonder if those two have counterparts from his world, but he felt like ignoring them for the meantime.

Cloud and Aerith uncomfortably finished their meals before deciding to excuse themselves to take a tour around the city. As soon as they got out of the hotel, they noticed that they were being followed by Theodore and Samara.

"Why don't the two of you go back there and stay with your father?" Cloud asked airily.

The two did not answer.

"Stop acting passive. I know you're different from those… Others." He said rather annoyingly at the two.

Aerith gently squeezed his hand to remind him to calm down because she herself was not sure on what those two children are capable of doing to them. They stopped walking to face the children once they reached the sidewalk to the pedestrian lane. "Cloud," she said warningly.

Cloud looked down at the children with an angry stare.

The children just looked up at him with solemn smiles on their faces. "Why can't you stop asking questions, Cloud, and just enjoy the here and now with Aerith by your side? Isn't this what you've been praying for the entire time she was gone?" Theodore asked coolly.

Cloud breathed in, not knowing how to answer the little boy. For one thing, the boy was right. But why could not he be thankful to the children for bringing him there in their world to be with Aerith? "There's a catch to this, isn't there?" he asked, narrowing his eyes on Theodore.

Theodore's smile widened. "Whatever made you think that there is a catch?" he asked.

"What happens in the other world while I'm here and Tifa and Rufus are there with Denzel and Marlene? Wouldn't they be looking for me when they find out I haven't returned with you kids? Didn't you tell them that you'd be playing outside?" Cloud demanded.

"They _will_ be looking for you… and me, and Samara too. But they'll just think that we're lost. But what can they do about it?" Theodore asked, shrugging.

Cloud grunted and studied the smug look on the child's face.

Samara, on the other hand, had been staring at Aerith's lower abdomen. Upon noticing this, Aerith placed a hand over her lower abdomen and asked, "What's the matter, Samara?"

The raven-haired little girl looked up at her. "Are you pregnant yet?" she asked.

Aerith's eyes widened. "Am I what?" she asked.

Cloud took Aerith's hand and dragged her away from the children. "Come on," he said, not wanting to waste time around those creepy little kids.

Aerith, however, was disturbed. "Why is she asking about pregnancy?" she whispered with a troubled look on her face as she and Cloud crossed the street.

"I don't know but I think getting us together here isn't their only concern. There is a catch to this." He told her with a frown on his face.

Aerith was beginning to get really worried. She looked at Cloud as they continued to walk down the streets of Sector 1. She was not even sure where they were going, but she realized that he just wanted to walk around to get away from the children, even though they were still following them. "Cloud, they're following us," she whispered.

"I know." He said, frowning. He sped up, dragging her with him.

Aerith turned to look at the children but they were already gone. She stopped walking, so did he. "Where did they go?" he asked.

She shrugged.

Breathing in, Cloud looked at her with a worried look on his face. "We should be careful and watch out for each other." He said softly.

She smiled sadly and just nodded.

Cloud looked around the area. "So, where are we going?" he asked.

A few passersby smiled and greeted them, "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Strife!"

Cloud looked at them weirdly, but Aerith smiled. "Good morning," she greeted back before walking away with him. "I know you're curious, Cloud, but I don't know them. But just act nice. They're not doing anything bad after all." She said softly.

"I just noticed that they all have glassy stares in their eyes… it's as if they have no soul." Cloud muttered.

She nodded, lowering her gaze to the ground. "That's what I've noticed too. It scares me sometimes, especially seeing my Other parents here. And everyone seems to be too pale like their skin is made of porcelain. I've touched the Other Tifa's skin accidentally and she was cold. It even felt as if I was touching a porcelain doll and not human skin." She explained.

Cloud frowned. "Can we even trust these people?" he asked.

Aerith shrugged. "I don't know. But even if we don't talk too much to them, they seem to know everything about us." She explained. "Where are we going anyway?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure how this Other Midgar works. Maybe you could tour me around?" he asked, smiling slightly. He felt like he had no other choice but to discover how that other world is compared to where he came from.

She smiled pleasantly at him as she led the way, holding his hand gently but firmly. "Gladly." She said.

oOoOo

By lunchtime, Aerith and Cloud were in the Sector 1 Executive Village to visit Zack. Upon arriving, someone was already standing by the front door as if expecting their arrival. It was a little girl with reddish brown hair and blue eyes. She had a smile on her face which reminded them easily of their friend, Zack, as they walked towards the girl.

The little girl smiled. "Hello." She greeted happily.

Aerith smiled kindly at the girl. "Hello, Kairi." She greeted.

Kairi looked up at Cloud. "Hello, Cloud." She greeted pleasantly, offering a handshake.

Cloud stared at her hand for a few moments before finally shaking it. He forced a smile.

"I dyed my hair red today again." Kairi said brightly to them.

Aerith nodded weakly. "I can see that. Did your daddy get angry?" she asked.

Kairi shook her head. "Nope. He never gets angry. He says I'm pretty!" she said proudly before leading the way inside the house. "This way," she said.

Cloud could still feel the coldness of the little girl's hand in his own even though she had let go of him already.

"Come on," Aerith whispered to him as she led the way.

The first person to greet them inside the house was the Other Yuffie.

Cloud was stunned to see the Other Yuffie because of her appearance. The Other Yuffie looked mature, her hair is longer, and she wore a very expensive-looking green dress. She looked pale, however, and her eyes seemed blank too. The blankness of the smile on her face that made Cloud feel weird towards her. "You must be Yuffie." He pointed out.

The Other Yuffie smiled simply. "Why do you sound like we've just met today?" she asked.

Cloud blinked, not really knowing how to answer that.

Zack arrived, coming down the stairs. Cloud was surprised to see that he was dressed in a formal black suit and he could not help but stare at him in shock because he almost failed to recognize him. Zack, on the other hand, was surprised to see Cloud with Aerith. He did not look too pleased to see him, though. "What are you doing here?" he asked in a demanding manner like he was still a superior to Cloud back in SOLDIER days.

Cloud eyed him in confusion as he descended the stairs quickly. Zack grabbed his arm and led him outside the house. Aerith followed after them, feeling worried for them both. "Zack, what are you doing?" she demanded.

Cloud was just stunned as his old friend dragged him outside the house. As soon as they were by the front gate, Zack let go of him and faced him with a frown on his face. "Is this the _real_ Cloud?" he asked Aerith as he kept his gaze on Cloud.

Aerith swallowed hard, wondering what he meant by that. "Yes." She answered.

Zack took a deep breath as he gave Cloud a disappointed look. "So you're here too…" he said.

"You don't seem too happy about it." Aerith stated flatly.

Zack looked at her. "Don't get me wrong, Aerith, of course I'm glad he's here because you need him now more than ever… but God forbid, if you are going to be with him, can't it be in another place but this one?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked, interrupting them.

Zack looked at him from head to toe, eyeing his new expensive clothes. "Look at you. Improved and all… working as the Vice President of Shinra… married to the girl of your dreams. Seems perfect, right?" he asked him with a slight smile on his face.

Cloud blinked.

Zack looked back towards the big mansion with a serious look on his face. The Other Yuffie and Kairi were standing by the front porch and staring at them. Both had blank smiles on their faces as they stood still there as if watching him. "This kind of lifestyle is what I have always dreamed of before but they function the way I imagined them to be. Like that girl over there. Her name is Yuffie but I don't know who her counterpart is from where we came from… so I'm confused right now if I love this one or not." He explained to Cloud and Aerith.

Aerith blinked. "I thought you're happy here? That's why I never asked you about thinking of ways to return to where we came from." She pointed out.

Zack looked at her with a sad smile on his face. "I _am_ happy here, but if I'm going to get married and have a kid, at least I'd like a wife who doesn't behave the way I want her to and I'd like her to have some life in her eyes. She's really very predictable! It really gets boring. Normally couples would argue about something and would disagree at some point in their relationship, but Yuffie just agrees and agrees with me and she doesn't even retaliate!"

Aerith laughed. "Well you should definitely meet the _real_ Yuffie. You're gonna have a great time arguing with her." She pointed out in a teasing manner.

He just frowned slightly, "And if I'm going to have a daughter, I don't want her to be like this Kairi girl who seems to be… as weird as Theodore and Samara… and all the other children here!" he said.

"The other children?" Cloud asked.

"Two of them, actually. I met them the other day. They act as weird as Kairi, Theodore and Samara. They don't have glassy stares in their eyes whenever they're the only ones in the room but whenever there are adults present, they act really strange like those adults." Zack answered.

"You mean Riku and Lavinia?" Aerith asked.

"Who are they?" Cloud asked.

"Riku… looks like Kadaj—if you remember Kadaj, which I'm sure you do. He's the youngest among the 6 children of the Other Vincent and the Other Lucrecia. As for Lavinia, she is the youngest of the 5 children of the Other Tifa and the Other Rufus." She explained.

"Kairi, along with Theodore, Samara, Lavinia and Riku, I think, are planning something that's why they want the two of you to be here." Zack told them before turning his gaze back to the Other Yuffie and Kairi. He smiled weakly at the little girl. "Why don't you take your mother inside, Kairi? I think she needs to sit down." He called out to her.

Kairi just smiled and stood still.

Zack's smile was frozen on his face as he turned back to Cloud and Aerith. "You see what I mean when I say she's weird?" he asked. "And who the hell is Yuffie from our world?" he continued.

Aerith giggled. "Trust me, Zack. The _real_ Yuffie is better than that one." She said in a low voice.

Cloud was eyeing the Other Yuffie with a slight frown on his face. "Yeah. This one's too made-up." He muttered, disapproving of the elegance on the girl… or probably because he was too used to seeing the young, cheerful and simple Yuffie Kisaragi from his world.

Zack blinked. "Really?" he asked.

"The real Yuffie has shorter hair, is 18 years old as of now from our world, and she is Wutaian Royalty. She is the daughter of Lord Godo and she's a ninja. She likes to steal stuff especially Materia so that she could provide for her country." Cloud explained to him.

Zack smiled slightly. "Sounds more fun that this one…" he said in amusement. "I mean, this Yuffie is great and all, she loves me and she takes good care of me. She even provides for me with everything a husband could ever want, but she's like a Stepford wife and it's making me uncomfortable. Plus, have you tried touching her? Her skin is really cold." He pointed out.

"You mean you're uncomfortable because it's unnatural." Aerith elaborated for him.

Zack nodded. "Yeah, that's the explanation." He said, agreeing with a bright smile on his face.

Aerith smirked. "Then I'm sure you'd like to meet the _real_ one." She said sweetly before turning to Cloud. "And I think we have to be aware of the children and find out what they're planning to do." She said with a serious look on her face.

Cloud nodded.

They were surprised when Kairi just spoke up, and they realized that she was already standing by Zack's side. They did not even realize that she went over to them. "Daddy, why don't you invite Mr. and Mrs. Strife inside for some tea?"

Zack froze and carefully turned to the little girl and placed an arm around her. "Well, dear, I think they're in a hurry." He said with an urging tone towards Cloud and Aerith to leave before Kairi could think of something else.

Kairi pouted. "Oh." She said before turning her gaze to Aerith's lower abdomen. She smiled smugly and reached out a hand to her womb, touching it.

Aerith was surprised by the little girl's gesture that she moved away.

Kairi looked up at her with a mysterious look in her eyes as if she had something in her mind that she could not reveal. She just smiled sweetly at Aerith before putting her hand down.

Cloud got hold of Aerith's hand. "We'd better leave now," he said while eyeing Kairi strangely. He turned to Zack and smiled slightly with a single nod to say goodbye.

Zack responded with the same gesture before watching the couple leave the premises. He then turned to Kairi who was still staring at the couple as they walked away. "Let's go inside, Kairi." He said.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Okay, daddy!" she said happily.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

oOoOo

Cloud and Aerith returned to their hotel suite by 3 in the afternoon. In their tour around Midgar, they ran into the Other Tifa who was managing the Other 7th Heaven Bar which looked more posh than the real one; the Other Reno who was making rounds in Sector 5, the Other Marlene who was all grown up and working as a nurse at a hospital in Sector 3, and the Other Barret who was in the Town Hall. Cloud felt as if he was meeting new people and he did not like any of them so he tried his best to just leave them and not prolong conversations.

Aerith was tired so she decided to lie down on the bed for a while. "If you're hungry you can call for room service." She suggested to Cloud.

He shook his head and just sat down on the couch by the bed, eyeing her quietly. "I don't have the appetite. Everything is so weird around here." He said glumly as he crossed his arms.

She smiled weakly. "Yeah… I know… sometimes I feel like I don't even need to eat in this place because hunger seems to be only in the mind and my body isn't changing here. I'm not getting any fatter or thinner." She explained.

"Really?" he asked, amused.

She nodded. "Before you came here, I only ate a single meal, and that was on my first day here in this world. Afterwards, I never felt hungry anymore and realized that in here, it doesn't matter if I eat or not, I'll still be healthy." She pointed out.

He blinked. "That's really strange." He remarked.

"Yeah, in our world, if I can't eat for a day, I'll go crazy of hunger!" she said, rolling her eyes as she chuckled lightly.

He smiled at what she said. "Me too." he said, agreeing with her. He hated feeling hungry, although in their world, he would have days wherein there is nothing to eat and he could not do anything about it.

They were quiet for a few moments before he spoke up again. "When are we moving in to our new home?" he asked with an enthusiastic tone. He could not help but feel excited about moving into a new house with Aerith where they could start living together formally as husband and wife. It was one of his secret wishes from when she was still alive in their world: to be with her for the rest of his life and he would do anything he can in his power to provide for their family even if it means working harder than what he could exert. But in his current situation, it seems like he does not even need to exert too much effort because in that world, he is one of the richest men in the Other Midgar.

Aerith thought for a while. "We can move in tomorrow… or even today. But don't you want to enjoy the rest of our honeymoon here?" she asked with a teasing manner as she giggled.

He smiled at her but he was quiet. But she knew that something was on his mind. She looked at him gently. "There's something on your mind, Cloud. Why don't you tell me everything that you're thinking of?" she urged.

He sat still for a moment, uncrossing his arms and resting his hands on the armrests of the couch. He seemed relax at the moment. "I'm just… I…" he shook his head, laughing lightly. He could not believe he was stuttering in front of her again. He observed her smiling at him and laughing with him. "You're what?" she asked, urging him to continue.

He raised his eyebrows. "I'm just… glad." He answered. But he felt as if that wasn't the right adjective to describe how he really felt towards moving in their new home.

She breathed in and gazed at him with a gentle look on her face. "I'm glad too, Cloud. Glad that you're here. _Happy_… yeah, I'm happy. Very happy that you're here and we're together." She said softly. "And I can't wait to start a family with you and manage our household. I promise to be the best wife there is." She said lightheartedly.

He stared at her unbelievably. He wished he was more outspoken like her and he wished that he could express his thoughts better towards her, but all he could do was keep quiet and wonder if his actions would be enough to make her realize how much she really means to him. He smiled gently. He noticed that he has been smiling a lot ever since he arrived in that Other world. But he did not mind. "We'll be alright." He assured her before he began to scan the whole room. "So I'm the Vice President, huh?" he asked.

"External, to be exact. The rest of your details, I'm not sure of." She answered.

Cloud noticed two briefcases in one corner of the room by the dresser. He got up and picked up one of the briefcases, settling it on a chair and opened it. He realized that the briefcase belonged to him. "I guess these are my work-related materials…" he told her.

She blinked. "I didn't notice that there a while ago." She realized.

"Yeah. Me too." he said as he picked up a bank book and opened it. His eyes widened in awe as he gasped slightly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He turned and walked towards her, jumping onto the bed with her as they both reviewed the content of the bank book. Her eyes widened. "75 Billion Gil?" she exclaimed in awe.

He was speechless. He had so much money in his account. He left the bank book with her and went over to the briefcase to look at the other papers and documents. He sat down on the floor as he reviewed them carefully. "Looks like I'm working as the External Vice President of Shinra, and at the same time, managing a business… a courier service." He told her.

She blinked and smiled. "Cool." She remarked in amazement. Life is really better for them in this Other World. But somehow, they still felt uncomfortable about the sudden improvement in their lives.

They were interrupted when the telephone began to ring. Aerith got up to answer it. "Hello?"

"_Hello, Aerith. It's Tifa." _

Aerith blinked. "Hello, Tifa." She greeted pleasantly.

"_Would you like to join me for tea?_"

Aerith hesitated for a moment. "Uh… no, thank you. Not today. I'm quite tired. Cloud and I walked around the city all day and we're resting." She said.

"_Then you guys could maybe join us for dinner then?"_

Aerith looked at Cloud. Figuring that they could investigate further on why they were brought to that Other world, she told the Other Tifa, "Alright. Cloud and I will be there at Shinra by 7." She said.

"_Splendid! I'll see you later!_" the Other Tifa hung up.

Aerith put down the receiver. "It's the Other Tifa inviting us for another dinner party." She said.

"You don't sound excited." He said.

"Don't get me wrong, I like attending parties… but these dinner parties happen every night!" she pointed out. "I got tired of it easily because the Others aren't as fun as the real friends we have." She explained sadly.

"Then why did you agree to go?" he asked.

"I figured it would be a good opportunity to investigate further the behavior of the children and the Others." She explained.

Cloud frowned. "I don't know, Aerith…" he began, quite unsure about the effectiveness of her plan.

"I know you're having second thoughts about this but we have to take every opportunity present to find out what they're planning to do with us here. I'm sure we're here in this Other world for a reason." She pointed out.

He thought for a while before looking at his documents again. "Alright. But I'm not going to be comfortable with those fancy-shmansy dinner parties." He muttered with a bitter pout.

She giggled, finding his reaction amusing and funny. "Don't worry, Cloud. I'll be with you every step of the way." She said.

oOoOo

That evening, upon arriving in the Other Shinra building, the Other Turks led Cloud and Aerith to the dining room exclusive to the Other Shinra Family on the 7th floor. When they got inside the dining room, they were surprised to see that everyone they know from their own world was already there: the Other Barret, the Other Tifa, the Other Rufus, the Other Sephiroth, the Other Vincent, the Other Lucrecia, the Other Yuffie, the Other Marlene, the Other Denzel… and of course, Zack, Samara, Theodore, Kairi, and other young people Cloud did not know.

As Cloud and Aerith walked towards them, they all applauded, causing them to feel weird, still, she maintained a smile on her face while Cloud kept a straight face.

The Other Rufus smiled proudly at Cloud and Aerith. "This dinner is in honor of the two newly-weds." He announced.

"Cheers!" everyone said in a happy manner.

Everyone sat down in their respective places. It was a long table with all the extravagant food and tableware Cloud could ever imagine. He sat down beside Aerith and made sure that he was away from the children, however, seated just beside him aside from her was a young boy who looked so much like Kadaj. "I'll bet this one's the Riku that you're talking about?" he whispered to Aerith while eyeing the young boy discreetly.

Aerith nodded quietly. "And that blonde little girl beside Theodore is Lavinia." She whispered.

Cloud eyed the blonde little girl who was all smiles and chatting with her older brother Theodore. He thought he was looking at Tifa back when she was a little girl, only this time, with blonde hair. He turned to Riku when he felt that he was staring at him. He eyed him suspiciously.

Riku smirked at him. "Nice of you to join us here, Cloud." He said.

Cloud turned to Aerith. "I think you're wrong. He doesn't just look like Kadaj, I think he _is_ Kadaj." He muttered.

"You know it's not polite to ignore people, Cloud." Riku pointed out.

Cloud continued to ignore him as he spoke to Aerith while eyeing the rest of the new people seated alongside the Other Sephiroth and ending beside Riku. She followed his gaze and whispered, "I mentioned that the Other Vincent and the Other Lucrecia have 6 children, right? Well they're actually seated consecutively from the Other Sephiroth, who is the eldest. The rest are named Dante, Skurai, Jill, Yazoo and then Riku."

"Yazoo?" Cloud asked, eyeing the Valentine child with long silver hair eating quietly.

"…that's what Riku told me." Aerith said.

Yazoo was staring at them with a blank stare on his face; however, he did not have the glassy stare like his parents.

Cloud began to suspect something regarding the young Valentine child. "How old are you, Yazoo?" he asked, deciding to strike up a conversation with him.

Yazoo blinked for a few moments before replying in a stiff yet airy manner. "Nineteen."

Aerith eyed him curiously. There was something in his eyes which told her that he was not like the others. "Cloud, there's something wrong with him." She whispered to Cloud.

Cloud just looked away. "I'll deal with him later." He muttered before turning back to Riku who was tapping his shoulder. "Yeah?" he asked.

Riku smirked. "How many children are you planning to have?" he asked nonchalantly.

Cloud frowned at him. Why is everyone anxious for him and Aerith to have a baby already? "I don't know, Riku. You tell me. I can't even remember if I already had sex with Aerith yet!" he said with a sarcastic tone before turning away.

Aerith looked at him in shock but did not say anything. But yeah, she could not remember anything too prior to waking up beside Cloud that morning.

Riku stared at Cloud with a serious look on his face. "But you must have done it! I mean, you're married!" he pointed out.

"Not all married people have sex immediately." Cloud muttered.

"Oh yeah? How would you know that?" Riku asked, smiling slyly at him.

Cloud clenched his jaw. It was one of those conversations that made him extremely uncomfortable, especially since he's talking about it to a young person.

Aerith cleared her throat to interrupt the two. Cloud looked at her. She gave him a look which told him to just quit arguing with the boy. He just lowered his gaze to his plate and kept his gaze on it.

All throughout dinner, Cloud was observing that he and Aerith were not the only ones who were extremely quiet, but there was also Yazoo who appeared to be sitting so stiffly on his own chair while keeping his gaze directly on his food, not even bothering to look at the others.

"Cloud,"

Cloud turned his gaze to the Other Tifa. She looked much older and more mature and he still could not adjust to it. "This one's probably in her forties or something…" he thought silently.

"Tell us about how you and Aerith met again. We really love hearing that story!" she told him pleasantly.

"Hey come to think of it, I don't really know how they met!" the young lady named Jill chimed in.

"Of course you wouldn't know it, sister dear, you were away for quite some time." The Other Sephiroth answered calmly.

Cloud shivered. Sephiroth would say something like that? "_Sister dear_…" the statement echoed in his mind repeatedly. "I am really in an alternate universe…" he thought in disdain before looking at Aerith with an uncomfortable look on his face. She smiled reassuringly at him before turning her gaze to the Other Tifa and the others as she laughed uncomfortably. "No, I don't think you'd be that interested to hear about how my husband and I met. Let's just talk about… you, Yuffie! How did you meet Zack?" she asked, trying to shift the topic of interest towards another couple.

The Other Yuffie blinked in awe and smiled shyly. "Oh no, Aerith. You first!" she said gently.

"Yes, we insist. We really love the story on how you two met!" the Other Lucrecia said with a sweet smile on her face.

"We certainly must hear it again." the Other Vincent chimed in with a pleasant smile on his face.

Cloud frowned slightly. "I feel like I'm really in twilight zone…" he muttered to Aerith.

She kept her cool as she said, "Well, apparently you guys already know how I met Cloud so… I don't think it's still necessary for me to repeat the story…"

"No, Aerith. We insist." Samara said sternly.

Cloud, Aerith and Yazoo all looked at her with surprised looks on their faces.

Theodore smiled softly. "Are you going to tell us or not?" he asked with a low tone.

"You wouldn't want to disappoint us, do you?" Riku asked with a slow but steady tone that seemed to have some threatening hint to it.

Aerith took a deep breath, looking at Riku in disdain. Yazoo just bowed down his head, not wanting to take part in the situation.

Cloud just frowned at Riku, eyeing him with an annoyed look on his face. He crossed his arms, refusing to converse with them any longer.

But Aerith knew that if none of them spoke up, Samara, Theodore or Riku could do something they might not like. She was not sure but she could feel something sinister coming from the general direction of the children, especially towards those three children who just spoke to them. She forced a gentle smile at them. "Well then, I'll start," she said.

Cloud thought that she would invent a story, but instead, he heard her say, "Cloud and I bumped into each other while I was… selling flowers in the streets of Sector 6."

The women gasped. "You sold flowers in the streets of Sector 6?" the Other Tifa asked in awe.

"But you're a rich girl! Why would you sell flowers?" the Other Yuffie asked with a surprised look on her face.

Aerith realized that she had told about how they exactly met from the world where they originally came from. "Of course I'm different here…" she thought silently. She smiled uneasily at them. "No I was just kidding." She said.

The women sighed in relief.

Aerith took a deep breath.

Cloud could tell that she was really very nervous but he could not think of anything to do to help her. He got fed up and got up, taking Aerith's hand. "We're leaving." He said in a gruff manner as he dragged her out of her seat and led the way towards the door.

The Other Sephiroth's left eye twitched.

Samara, Theodore and Riku turned their gazes towards the Other Sephiroth. He just looked at them with a blank stare before standing up. He moved away from his seat and walked to the door. He appeared dazed, but his eyes were bloodshot. Samara, Theodore and Riku got up from their seats and followed after him.

As for Zack, he just stared strangely at the Other Sephiroth and the three children following after him. He turned his gaze to Yazoo who just kept still on his seat, not wanting to look at anything else but his food which he had barely even touched.

oOoOo

Cloud and Aerith returned to their hotel suite. "Are they following us?" he asked her.

She shook her head as she locked the door. "No. I don't think so." She said.

He took a deep breath as he went over to the window to shut the blinds. Even though he was sure that it was only the two of them in that room, he still could not help but feel that someone is watching them from outside the window. He sighed, narrowing his eyes as he clenched his fists. "I'm sorry if we had to leave. I know you're a sociable person and those are your friends…" he began.

"No, they're not my friends. That isn't Tifa and that's definitely not Yuffie." She said stiffly as she crossed her arms and sat down on the couch, keeping her back straight. She was tense and restless, as if she had been to a freak show and regretted seeing the main spectacle. "My real friends aren't here. _Our_ real friends aren't here… except maybe for Zack." She said with an uptight tone.

Cloud turned around and faced her. "I know." He said softly before he went to her and sat down beside her.

She looked at him with a troubled look on her face. "I can't take them anymore. It's hard to pretend to like them, but I know I have to because I feel like if I become rude towards them, they'd do something bad to me… and to you too! Of course I wouldn't want anything bad happening to you, Cloud… I don't…" she trailed off as tears trickled down from her green eyes.

Cloud's eyes widened as he saw her crying. He attempted to reach out to comfort her, but she refused his action, gently pushing his hands away. "No, no, I'm fine." She said with a choke before wiping her own tears with the back of her right hand before she got up and went over to the bathroom.

Cloud recalled that dinner parties occur every night. "I suppose we won't be joining them for dinner tomorrow evening, huh?" he called out as he kicked off his shoes and leaned back against the couch.

Aerith, after a few minutes, came out from the bathroom with her hair unbraided and barefoot. Her face was still a little wet, with Cloud realizing that she had washed her face to prevent her eyes from reddening. "What if they do something to us if we didn't go?" she asked.

"You mean you haven't tried ditching them?" he asked.

She took a deep breath, "I've tried, once. Some days before you arrived. Riku arrived at my doorstep and he said that if I missed another dinner party, I'd be in big trouble." She began.

Cloud looked at her strangely. "And you obeyed that kid?" he asked in disbelief.

She shook her head as she smiled ridiculously at him. "No, of course not. You know I'm sorta rebellious, right?" she asked, winking.

He smiled at her. She sat down beside him. "I knew they'd send the Other Turks to fetch me at my house here, so I decided to leave and just walk around the streets of Midgar, wandering off to wherever my feet would take me so that they wouldn't find me. But when I was walking around, I could feel someone following me and from every corner, I could see those children standing and staring at me!" she proceeded.

Cloud was quiet, thinking things through. It troubled him that those children were causing undue stress to Aerith, and those children were also starting to get into his nerves. He started to think of cruel thoughts such as what will happen if he killed those children, but he could not think of any possible consequence that he would have to face if the Other adults found out about what he did. Then he began to recall the way the Other adults acted during dinner: they were like puppets. He also recalled the Other Yuffie from earlier that day. Zack told them that she behaves in a very predictable manner.

Their thoughts were interrupted when they heard the doorbell and they jumped slightly in surprise. They exchanged wide-eyed glances before turning to the door.

Cloud got up. "I'll get that." he presented before walking towards the door.

"Be careful." She said softly.

Cloud peeked through the small lens on the door to see who it was. He raised his eyebrows when he realized who it was. "You'll never guess who's outside our door." He muttered before he opened the door, revealing to Aerith who it was.

Aerith eyed the visitor in surprise. "Yazoo!" she exclaimed.

The silver-haired young man looked at them with a serious look on his face before taking quick glances over his shoulders. "May I come in?" he asked with a hard tone.

Cloud was not sure whether to let him in or not but Aerith already spoke up, "Yes, Yazoo, you may."

Yazoo walked past Cloud and approached Aerith. "Thank you." He said, looking relieved.

Cloud shut the door and locked it again.

Yazoo noticed that Cloud locked the door and remarked, "That really wouldn't do much. I myself do that at home but Riku can still find his way inside to tell me a lot of things."

"Things about what?" Aerith asked. Cloud was simply at a loss for words to be able to interrogate Yazoo.

Yazoo sat down on the couch and turned his gaze to Cloud. "About themselves. The children." He answered.

Cloud's frown deepened. "You're not one of them, are you?" he asked suspiciously.

Yazoo smiled smugly. "I knew you're going to ask that. Of course I'm not one of those _others_. I'm still acting like myself, don't I?" he asked as he tossed a lock of his long silver hair off his right shoulder.

Cloud was still suspicious, but before he could say something else, Yazoo proceeded, "Weren't you wondering why Kairi, Samara, Theodore and Riku are constantly asking if you're already pregnant, Aerith?"

Aerith was surprised with the question. "Y… yes, I noticed that." she said softly.

"What do you know, Yazoo?" Cloud asked.

Yazoo eyed him with a serious look on his face. "I can't stay long because Riku and Samara are waiting for me downstairs. They just want me to come up here to check on you two if you arrived safely." He began, "But I just have to warn you right now; if you don't want to be like the Others, you have to protect your unborn child." He said before getting up from the couch. "I have to leave now." He said as he proceeded hurriedly to the door.

"Wait, Yazoo," Cloud called out.

Yazoo stopped in his tracks but did not turn back to face him. "Yes, Cloud?" he asked indifferently.

"You are not like them. You're the Yazoo who worked with Kadaj… you're siblings, right? And you're a part of Sephiroth. But you're here…" Cloud began.

Yazoo shook his head. "I should leave now." He turned his head to the side and looked at him through his peripheral vision. "You're going to make me explain how I got here?" he proceeded to the door and unlocked it. "I also don't know how to explain it to myself. But you'd better think of a way to get out of here before it's too late for the two of you." He said before opening the door and stepped out. "Good night." He said before he shut the door.

Cloud and Aerith remained frozen in their spot, thinking of what Yazoo just told them.

"Those children spell trouble." He mumbled as he lowered his gaze to the floor.

She took a deep breath as she frowned. "They're planning to do something to our baby in case I got pregnant." She said softly.

Cloud looked at her with a worried look on his face. "We… haven't done anything yet, right?" he asked.

She looked at him, her green eyes widening in confusion. "As far as I'm concerned, we haven't…" she said, although she was unsure. Those children could have planned something else. "But I blacked out and I can't remember pretty much anything anymore before you arrived here." She said softly.

Cloud began to feel nervous. "Damn it." He went over to her and sat down on the couch. "I guess we'll just… have to really stick close to each other… just in case you turn out to be pregnant…" he stammered as he felt his cheeks getting warmer.

She observed him quietly before smiling gently at him. "I won't let them harm _us_ either." She said softly.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

oOoOo

_4 months later_…

Yazoo was inside the music room of the Valentine Mansion playing the piano. It was 2 in the morning but he was restless. An hour earlier, he was on his way to the kitchen to have a drink of water when he passed by the room of the Other Sephiroth and heard Riku talking. He also heard the voices of Kairi, Samara, Theodore and Lavinia and it made him curious, but as he neared the door to listen, the children stopped talking. Guessing that they must have known that there was someone outside the door, Yazoo quickly made a run to the stairs and when he reached it, he slowed down and descended the stairs in a cool manner. He could hear the clacking of heels from behind him, and when he reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked back towards the dark hallway of the second floor, trying to be wary of the shadows, but there was no one there. The clacking of the heels stopped.

Yazoo breathed in and turned away from the stairs, but jumped in surprise as he faced the other direction when he saw a little blonde girl dressed in a pink sundress and looking up at him. She smiled sweetly, "Hello, Yazoo." She greeted.

Yazoo raised his eyebrows at the girl and forced a smile at her. "Lavinia! You startled me," he said, trying to sound pleasant, although there was something dark and mysterious about the way she greeted him.

She was looking directly into his eyes. "Where are you going, Yazoo?" she asked.

"The kitchen. I'm thirsty." He said before stepping aside to walk away from her although he kept a cool and calm composure, but he could tell that the little girl was still observing him from the bottom of the stairs.

Recalling the way Lavinia had just appeared out of nowhere, Yazoo stopped playing the piano and rested his fingers for a while. He did not return to his room after coming from the kitchen to drink some water.

"Why did you stop?"

He did not turn around but his gaze narrowed at the piano keys when he recognized the voice. "Aren't you supposed to be asleep, Riku?" he asked.

Riku was standing by the doorway of the music room with his arms crossed. "How can I sleep if you're making noise here?" he asked.

Yazoo shut the cover of the piano and he got up. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you." He said coolly before proceeding to the door.

Riku noticed that Yazoo was avoiding his gaze. He smiled slyly. "Brother, you don't look so well." He said.

Yazoo just walked past him, but as he reached the hallway, he stopped when he saw Kairi, Lavinia and Samara blocking his way. He frowned but he smiled at them. "Hello, little girls. Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" he asked calmly.

"You too, Yazoo." Lavinia pointed out with a sweet smile on her face.

Riku stood behind him and chuckled lightly, "Just so you know, brother, it's only a matter of months before we're finally complete." He began.

"Complete?" Yazoo asked as he faced Riku. He narrowed his eyes on his "brother" and his frown deepened. "I see… you're not really Riku, are you?" he asked calmly.

The silver-haired boy about the age of 15 just smirked at him. "You're still smart, Yazoo." He said.

"Where's Loz, Kadaj?" Yazoo asked coolly.

Kadaj rolled his eyes. "I knew you're going to ask that." he said. "He's _Dante_ now." He said in amusement as he crossed his arms.

"So you're the ones controlling the adults?" Yazoo asked.

"You can put it that way, actually, but it's a matter of yes and no." Theodore answered as he stepped forward from behind his twin sister.

Yazoo turned around and looked at him with his usual cool glare. He smirked at the little boy. "And I was wondering where you went," he said before turning back to Kadaj. "What's your plan Kadaj?" he asked.

"It's all big brother's plan, really. You see, he was a child too… a very unfortunate child born into a world of science and experiments. Even as an unborn child, he became a victim of needles and drugs. It's disgusting, don't you think? Furthermore, it's abuse!" Kadaj pointed out.

"Big brother?" Yazoo asked in curiosity. Who is this "big brother" that Kadaj is talking about? "Why yes, of course. No child deserves such treatment from adults…" he said calmly pretending to care about the welfare of that "big brother", whoever he is.

"You see, if big brother did not undergo that kind of treatment from those cruel adults who experimented on him, do you think that he'd grow up to be the man he is today?" Theodore asked.

"I thought you're a Shinra? How come you and Kadaj are suddenly related?" Yazoo asked wryly.

"All of us are brothers and sisters with big brother. Together we'll help him start anew. And he'll give us a better life. He doesn't want us to experience the abuse he experienced as a child." Samara spoke up.

"Yes. That's what big brother wants to happen. We'll all start anew." Kairi said.

Yazoo turned his gaze to Lavinia who was just gazing at him with a glassy-eyed look and a smile on her face. She did not say anything though. He looked away from her and eyed Samara. "So you brought me here because?" he asked.

"Because we need to be with a family. Don't you understand? We are brothers after all!" Kadaj said. "We're looking for a mother, and now we have one, aren't you contented?" he continued with an excited smile on his face.

Yazoo thought for a moment before replying, "Yes, I guess I'm glad that I have a mother… and a family…" he lowered his gaze to the ground.

Lavinia approached him and tugged his sleeve. "Yazoo, do you want a lolly?" she asked sweetly.

He looked down at her curiously. She smiled sweetly at him. "I have lollies. Do you want one?" she asked.

Yazoo felt weird that a little girl is asking him if he would want a lollipop. "This is definitely a freak show and I don't want to take part in any of your insanities anymore, Kadaj." He said coolly before turning back to his younger brother. "You're controlling these children aren't you?" he asked.

Kadaj looked at him disappointingly. "Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo, whatever happened to you? You used to be very cooperative." He said. "Don't forget that we both came from the same…" he proceeded, but Yazoo cut him, "The same what?"

Lavinia pouted as she continued to tug on the sleeve of Yazoo's loose dark blue shirt as her other hand grabbed a portion of his black jogging pants. "Yazoo! You're not listening to me!" she wailed.

"Shut up Lavinia!" Kadaj told her warningly.

She moved away from Yazoo and bit her lower lip before sniffing. She clenched her fists disdainfully as tears filled her light brown eyes.

"Aw. You made her cry, Kadaj." Theodore pointed out.

"Well she should learn to behave herself anyway," Samara said coldly.

Yazoo frowned at them before approaching Lavinia. He crouched down before her and held her shoulders gently. He smiled calmly at her. "I'm sorry, Lavinia, but I was talking to my brother. Now where are those lollies?" he asked.

Lavinia ceased her crying and she smiled brightly at him, but before she could answer, he punched her diaphragm area and the pain rendered her unconscious. As swiftly as he could, Yazoo grabbed her and draped her over his right shoulder before dashing away from the children.

Kadaj gasped, surprised with what Yazoo had done. "Where are you going?" he called out in annoyance. "Go after him!" he told Kairi, Samara and Theodore.

The three ran after Yazoo immediately upon the command.

Yazoo continued to run and he managed to get out of the mansion grounds, running into the streets of the village. He could sense the three children still running after him. "Damn it!" he thought. He felt helpless without his weapon, Velvet Nightmare, but engaging in a hand-to-hand combat with those three could mean trouble for him. As much as possible, he did not wish to harm those three because he believed that they were just under Kadaj's control too… or maybe the "big brother" that Kadaj was talking about is the one controlling all of them after all. Yazoo was still unsure about his theories but he decided to just focus on running and escaping.

While he was running, he saw a car coming to his direction. His eyes widened as he recognized the driver. It was Zack.

Zack instantly hit the brakes when he saw Yazoo running with an unconscious little girl draped over his shoulder. "What the—." he reacted in surprise.

Yazoo got to the car and opened the door to the front passenger seat and quickly got inside. "We're in trouble. We have to leave now!" he hastily told Zack.

Zack was not sure what was happening but seeing the look on the other children's faces made him shift to fifth gear and quickly stepped on the gas to swerve the car away from the children who were still running towards them.

"What is going on?" Zack demanded.

"Why are you driving late at night?" Yazoo shot back as he held Lavinia tightly against himself.

"I was looking for Kairi but then I saw her chasing you so I changed my mind! She wasn't herself lately and when I realized she's not in her room tonight…" Zack began before taking a glance at the unconscious blonde little girl. "Is she alive? What did you do?" he asked.

"This is our hostage." Yazoo said simply.

Zack frowned slightly. "You sure know your stuff about kidnapping children, huh? Just like before?" he asked with a pun intended, smiling lightheartedly as he continued to drive.

Yazoo smiled smugly. "Well I still haven't lost my touch, after all." He answered haughtily.

But their smiles faded when they saw the three children standing a few meters in front of the car. Zack stepped on the brake and grasped the steering wheel tightly. "Shit! Where did they come from?" he exclaimed in surprise.

Yazoo held on tight to the girl unconscious in his arms. "Don't stop! Hit them!" he commanded.

Zack did not have any more time to think; he removed his foot from the brake pedal and stepped on the gas pedal again, speeding up more. "Hang on!" he told Yazoo.

BAM!

Zack cringed as they drove past the bodies of the three whom he decided to hit. "I don't think they're real people anyway that's why I didn't hesitate to do that." he reasoned.

"I wasn't asking for an explanation. But I'm glad you hit them." Yazoo muttered as he looked at the three bodies lying on the ground through the side mirror.

Zack slowed down a bit as they reached the highway. "Where are we going? And damn it, we're in our pajamas!" he said, feeling embarrassed. "Aren't we rich people here? What if other people see us looking like this?" he asked.

"Well it isn't obvious that what I'm wearing is my sleepwear. But damn, I'm wearing flip-flops!" Yazoo said in disdain as he eyed his own feet.

"You're luckier! I'm wearing bunny slippers!" Zack said.

Yazoo had a disgusted look on his face before turning his gaze back to the road. "Just drive. …Away from Sector 1 if you must." He muttered.

Zack's facial expression turned serious. "I guess we must go into hiding. But we can only go somewhere hidden in Midgar. It's like there's nothing beyond this city at all in this world." He said.

Yazoo just kept quiet.

oOoOo

Kadaj arrived in the street of the Sector 1 Executive Village where Zack purposely hit Kairi, Samara and Theodore with his speeding car. He eyed the three bodies of the children who were lying on the hard asphalted floor.

He just smiled coolly and looked up at the dark skies. "Big brother is going to be frustrated." He said.

Samara moved and got up slowly, dusting her black dress with her own hands. Theodore got up too, cringing in disgust because his white clothes got soiled.

Kairi began to cry as she sat up. "My daddy hit me, I can't believe it…" she said in devastation.

"Don't cry, Kairi, we'll get even. Big brother doesn't like it when children are hurt." Kadaj told her reassuringly with a disgruntled look on his face. He turned to Samara. "And Yazoo will definitely face the consequences for hurting Lavinia." He said sternly.

Samara just stood still, looking at Kadaj with a blank look on her face as blood trickled down from her mouth. She wiped it away with the back of her hand. "I'm disgusted with that Yazoo. I think he likes my sister." She said.

Theodore looked at her, his eyes widening at what he said. "Ew!" he said.

Kadaj laughed. "I know Yazoo has the charm to attract anybody he pleases. But I trust Lavinia. When she wakes up, she'll take him back to us so that big brother can punish him." He said.

Samara helped Kairi up. The young girl stopped crying and they all looked up at the dark sky with blank smiles on their faces.

oOoOo

Zack and Yazoo decided to leave the car in a vacant lot in Sector 3 and walked the rest of the way to Sector 7 where they took shelter at an old abandoned house.

"We can't hide here for long. I'm sure they're bound to find us. This world is created according to the standards of somebody, I don't know which one, though: their big brother or Kadaj or the children themselves." Yazoo told him.

Zack looked at Lavinia who was still unconscious and being carried by Yazoo. "You seem to know a lot about those children." He said with a weak smile on his face.

Yazoo took a glance at Lavinia before looking at Zack. "Kadaj tells me a lot of things about this world and I found out that there's nothing beyond this Other Midgar. It's only now that I found out so much about their big brother." He said.

"Big brother?" Zack asked as he cleared an old bed for Lavinia to sleep on.

Yazoo placed Lavinia on the bed, cringing at the dust. "It's not Cloud this time." He said.

"Well that's a relief. I thought they'd gone nuts; Cloud is an only child as far as I'm concerned." Zack said with a frown on his face.

"And speaking of Cloud, you have to go to his house to fetch him and Aerith. They need to be as far away from Kadaj as possible, especially Aerith." Yazoo pointed out.

Zack remembered that Aerith is already 4 months pregnant. "Oh yeah… I guess I'll have to leave you here and commute or walk back to Sector 1 to fetch them." He said, although he felt unsure about the idea of commuting or walking all the way from Sector 7 to Sector 1 in pajamas and bunny slippers. "Damn it! I'm going to look ridiculous!" he said.

Yazoo stared at his clothes for a brief moment and shook his head. "I don't think I can remedy that. You really look like you're going to go to a slumber party." He pointed out wryly.

Zack hated the way that Yazoo's humor could be so sarcastic but he just kept quiet about it since he figured that they would be spending more time together with Cloud and Aerith since they were the non-puppet beings in that world. "Oh well. At least this is an Other world." He muttered.

"It would be easy here, though. Just think of how you want people to react when they see you walking down the streets of Midgar in pajamas. Isn't it that our surroundings partly function because of how we want things to be? Like for instance, the way your wife behaves. Basically, all the humans here are puppets." Yazoo explained to him.

Zack sulked. "Damn it, why didn't you tell me earlier!" he exclaimed.

Yazoo smirked. "I was trying to make you look stupid for a while. I kinda missed hanging around a no-brainer… like Loz. Ohohoho…" he said, laughing at the end.

"Well thanks a lot." Zack said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He remembered Loz. "He seems smarter now… Hah. Figures why you'll really miss him. Haha." He said. "So anyway, you're telling me that if I think that those people outside wouldn't give a rat's ass about me wearing pajamas and bunny slippers in the streets, they wouldn't really give a rat's ass at all because that's what I want them to do?" he asked.

Yazoo nodded, smiling slightly as he sat down on the bed by Lavinia's side. "Yes. That's exactly it. Like while we were walking to this place and even while you're driving, I was already thinking that people will not care if we passed by or not; because if they noticed us, they'd report us." He pointed out.

"Report us?" Zack asked.

"We come from famous families here. If we're spotted, they'll cause a commotion. With such a commotion going on, it will be easier for the children to detect us." Yazoo said.

Zack frowned slightly. "I see… so that's how this world really works. People around us are puppets. So that's why there are no crimes, no poverty, no slums… just plain perfection according to the taste of the person who thought of and created this so-called 'perfect world'!" he said in amusement. He smiled. "Well, I guess I'd better leave now and get Aerith and Cloud to come over here." He told Yazoo before proceeding to the door.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

oOoOo

Cloud instantly woke up when he heard someone sounding the doorbell from the main gate. He got up from bed and checked the clock. It was only 6:45 in the morning.

Aerith woke up as well. "Who's that, Cloud?" she asked sleepily as she watched Cloud walk towards their bedroom window.

Cloud squinted, trying to adjust his eyesight to the early morning sunshine. "I… can't really see well. The gate's really too far from this house." He said with a low and frustrated tone before grunting as he went over to the door. "That's why I never dreamed of living in a big mansion on a hill with a gate too far from the house itself." He muttered.

Aerith chuckled lightly, but she was still sleepy so she closed her eyes again and fell asleep immediately.

oOoOo

In 5 minutes, Zack saw Cloud rushing towards the gate. "Yo, buddy!" he greeted cheerfully.

Cloud was surprised upon seeing him there. "Zack? What are you doing here?" he asked; and then he eyed him ridiculously. "In pajamas and…" he saw the bunny slippers. "Are you sure you're not sleepwalking?" he asked bluntly.

Zack frowned at him. "I'm not. But before you ask what happened, you better get Aerith and let's get the hell out of here." He said.

Cloud blinked as he opened the gate to let his friend in. "Why? What's going on?" he asked.

oOoOo

Aerith slowly opened her eyes when she heard Cloud calling her name and gently tapping her shoulder. "Aerith,"

She looked up at him sleepily and smiled lovingly at him. "Hello, Cloud, what's wrong?" she asked, and her smile faded when she saw Zack standing behind Cloud and smiling apologetically at her because his presence indicated that there was something really wrong. She carefully sat up as her right hand mindlessly traveled to her enlarging abdomen for support while she used her left elbow to prop herself up.

"We need to get you guys out of here." Zack told her with a worried look on his face while eyeing her abdomen.

"But why?" she asked, feeling worried all of a sudden.

"Zack explained everything to me. We need to keep the children away from you as much as possible." Cloud told her.

"Why?" she asked as Cloud aided her in getting out of bed.

"You go ahead and get changed in the bathroom. I'll explain everything later once we're out of here." He told her.

Aerith looked at him with a worried look on her face before proceeding to the bathroom to change her clothes.

Cloud turned to Zack. "Those little bastards. If I find out who their big brother is, I might really kill him." He said in frustration. Based from what he had heard from Zack as an explanation, he felt as if he was just sent to that world to impregnate Aerith. "…But why Aerith? And why me?" he asked, eyeing Zack with a worried look on his face.

Zack shook his head as he breathed in. "I'm afraid I can't answer that for now, buddy. Let's not worry about that for now. I just need to get you guys out of here and then we'll figure out a way to get transported back to our real world." He told him reassuringly.

Cloud just lowered his gaze to the ground before nodding.

oOoOo

Aerith, Cloud and Zack had to commute back to the abandoned house in Sector 7. When Cloud saw the state of the house from outside, he thought twice on letting his pregnant wife enter such a dirty and old place, but Yazoo greeted them from the door and assured them that he did thorough cleansing and cleaning of the inside of the house because he himself could not stand dirty surroundings.

Zack looked around the house and was impressed with the cleaning Yazoo had done. "You didn't clean the outside," he pointed out.

"It's for the sake of disguising this house." Yazoo said.

"But I thought you're thinking of not staying here too long?" Zack asked him.

"I know, but I really can't stand dirt, mold, mildew… especially with Lavinia around. She's a delicate little girl and I… just want to make sure she's comfortable." Yazoo answered quite hesitantly.

Aerith blinked. "Lavinia?" she wondered.

"Oh. I forgot to mention that Yazoo decided to take her as hostage." Zack told her with an apologetic smile on his face.

"What?" she reacted in surprise.

"Relax, Mrs. Strife," Yazoo said, tossing a lock of his hair off his shoulder as he smirked at her. "Don't worry about her. It will be like, if Kadaj attempts to harm you, we will harm the little girl." He pointed out.

Aerith and Cloud eyed him in shock. "That's really cruel!" she reacted in disbelief.

"Well somebody else has to be cruel around here aside from Kadaj." Yazoo answered haughtily.

"Kadaj?" Cloud asked.

"Otherwise known as Riku." Zack pointed out.

Cloud rolled his eyes. "I knew it." He said.

Yazoo led them further inside the house until they reached an empty room with old steel dining chairs. "No other furniture in this house but those chairs, an old couch with loose springs and an old bed with an old mattress." He told them.

Aerith smiled weakly. "Well… this will do. With enough effort, we can make this house prettier and more suitable for living in." she said with an optimistic smile on her face.

"Yeah, especially since you're pregnant and you need to be comfortable." Zack pointed out as he watched Cloud lead Aerith to one of the chairs.

"The children will eventually find us here _or_ Lavinia will do something bad to us. Which is it?" Cloud asked.

"Most likely it's choice number 1, but like what I said earlier, if they try to harm Aerith, I'll harm the little girl." Yazoo told him. "I'll just check on the little girl if she's awake." He said before leaving the room.

Cloud sat down on the other chair while Zack took his seat on the one opposite Cloud's. "We really need to find a way to go back to where we came from." He said with an uncomfortable look on his face.

"You're right. I know how you guys feel now. It's like everyday in this place, we're living in a state of fear. But it's weird, you know, because we fear the children!" Zack pointed out with a sad smile on his face as he crossed his arms. "I thought Kairi was a sweet and charming girl but then there is something in her which really creeps me out." He pointed out.

"Every child here is creepy. Get used to it." Cloud told him.

"But children are supposed to be adorable!" Zack said, feeling frustrated about their current situation.

"Well I never realized you like children, Zack!" Aerith said with a teasing tone.

He just smiled weakly as he lowered his gaze to the ground. "I do miss Kairi though… if I'm going to have a daughter… and that Yuffie, even though they're weird." He said softly.

Cloud eyed him glumly. "You're hopeless…" he muttered.

Zack just gave him an offended look.

oOoOo

By late afternoon, Aerith and Cloud have adjusted to their new environment.

Zack was still uncomfortable about their situation so he decided to stay on-guard outside sitting on the front porch quietly and observing their surroundings.

Aerith was cooking dinner while Cloud hung out by the window by the front door just speaking to Zack about possible plans of escape and worst-case scenarios that could happen. Cloud did not want to talk about those things but Zack figured that they should be discussed anyway because he thinks that there's nothing wrong with being prepared.

While discussing things with Zack, Cloud easily noticed that passersby did not seem to care about them at all.

"It's like we're invisible." Cloud muttered.

"Huh?" Zack turned to him.

"They don't care that we're here. If we're in the real Midgar right now, people would be wondering why there are suddenly a bunch of people occupying an old abandoned house like this. They'd be reporting us to ShinRa and then Turks and SOLDIERs will be coming over here to investigate and ask for some lodging permit of some sort." Cloud pointed out.

Zack smiled slightly before turning his attention back to the passersby. "Because here, if we think that people won't care, they won't really care." He stated flatly.

Cloud crossed his arms. "So unusual. I mean, when you're in the real Midgar, you'll wish people would mind their own business. But here, you can't help but miss their attention." He said with a slight smile on his face.

"So you do hate being bypassed." Zack pointed out.

Cloud raised his eyebrows. "Well who wants to get bypassed?" he asked.

Zack looked at him again with a pleased smile on his face. "You've changed so much, buddy. You used to be so gloomy and pessimistic. Now you're… really different. What happened?" he asked.

Cloud took a glance at him and then turned his attention back to the passersby. "Weight loss." He answered.

Zack raised his eyebrows at him. "You're on a diet?" he asked.

"No. It's like… a heavy burden has been lifted off my back, and then when I got here, the more I felt lighter… except that the stress is in my head now because of thinking too much and being on-guard most of the time because of these children." Cloud answered.

Zack nodded. "Haha. And I thought you're trying to lose weight or something. Haha." He pointed out.

They were interrupted when they heard light heeled footsteps coming from behind Cloud. Cloud turned to his side and saw Lavinia opening the front door to step out. Her brown eyes were wide in wonder as she stared straight ahead, eyeing the streets and the passersby. Zack got up and grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her inside the house again. "Hey, hey, little lass, where do you think you're going?" he asked playfully.

She just stared blankly ahead of her.

"Gee… it's like away from Kadaj, she's just a puppet or something." Zack realized.

"No, she's just shaken. She's not used to this kind of environment." Yazoo answered as he arrived from the bedroom area.

"Are you sure you didn't molest this child that's why she's acting so dazed right now?" Cloud meant it as a joke, although he kept a straight face while speaking.

Yazoo eyed him, feeling offended and disgusted. "Really, that wasn't a nice joke at all, Mister Strife." He said airily.

Cloud rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Just trying to find out what's making her act weirder than usual." He said.

Lavinia began to cry.

"Aw… there, there, it's okay. No big bad wolf's going to eat you!" Zack said reassuringly as he embraced the child and gently stroked her long blonde hair.

"Kadaj isn't even big, he's rather small; I'm sure you observed his height." Yazoo said in an insulting manner as he crossed his arms.

"He'd strangle you if he heard you."

They were surprised when they heard the voice of Kairi coming from outside the window. She was standing there outside and gazing at them with a sinister look on her face.

"Ah, shit." Cloud moved away from the window in surprise upon seeing Kairi outside.

She smirked at them and then when she turned her gaze towards Zack, her facial expression softened. "Daddy…" she said gently.

Zack looked at her with a disgusted look on his face.

Kairi's lips twisted into a disdainful pout. "Already you've found another little girl to love. She's not even your child, daddy! I'm your child!" she wailed.

"You're not really my daughter anyway. As a matter of fact, I don't even have any child at all! I'm not even married in reality!" Zack snapped at her in a harsh manner.

Kairi clenched her jaw as she entered through the window, not caring about the broken glass shards left on the windowsill that cut some areas of her legs. She bled, but her blood was glowing green… like Mako. "You're denying your own daughter?" she snarled.

Cloud had a reflex to grab his Ultima weapon, but he realized that he had no weapon at all. Even Yazoo tried to make a grab on his Velvet Nightmare, but he remembered that it's not with him even from the very first day he arrived in this Other Midgar.

Zack scurried away from Kairi with a crying Lavinia still in his arms. "You are not my daughter." He told her coldly.

Kairi's left eye twitched as she clenched her fists. "Daddy, how could you abandon me and mommy?" she asked angrily as she began to approach them, but she stopped when Yazoo grabbed Lavinia from Zack and wrapped an arm around her neck while keeping her close to himself.

Kairi stopped walking and her facial expression turned calm.

Lavinia stopped crying and just stared strangely at Kairi. "Where are my cookies?" she asked, slightly tilting her head to the left as her right eye twitched.

"The cookies are with big brother, Lavinia." Kairi said as she took a step forward, but then noticed that her friend started to gag a little.

Yazoo narrowed his gaze at Kairi. "I don't need to explain to you what I'm going to do with Lavinia if you still insist on coming closer, do I?" he asked coolly.

"Hey… you're… hurting her," Cloud said hesitantly. To him, Lavinia is still a child and seeing a child suffer makes him feel very uncomfortable.

Zack just stared at Yazoo in disbelief.

Yazoo's grip tightened against Lavinia's neck and she started to cry again. "Tell that to the other children, will you—that if you and your big brother would come here again, Lavinia is going to die." He said coldly as he smiled calmly at Kairi.

Kairi bowed down her head slightly but she still kept her gaze at Yazoo. Then she just turned her gaze to Zack. "I hate you." She said before she turned and walked back towards the window. She exited through the window, and she did not seem to mind that she was "bleeding" and leaving her trail of "blood" everywhere.

As soon as Yazoo was certain that Kairi had gone away from the house, he loosened his grip. Lavinia collapsed to the ground and fainted.

"She was already turning blue!" Cloud protested as he approached her side and brushed her blonde hair away from her face.

Zack was still frozen in his spot. Yazoo noticed his discomfort and looked at him with a serious look on his face. "Don't mind Kairi. She's not really yours. She's just doing that to emotionally blackmail you. If you let her manipulate your dreams and desires, you'll just fall under her spell." He told him reassuringly.

"Yeah… you're right. But I'm going to make sure that if I do have a _real_ daughter, she wouldn't be anything creepy like that." Zack said as he wiped his sweat from his brow.

Unknown to them, Aerith was just standing by the doorway from the kitchen and had been quietly observing the events as they went on. She took a deep breath and turned away, deciding to go back to the kitchen, not to continue with the cooking, but to sit down for a while and ponder about the fate of her unborn child. Her stomach was strangely big that she was starting to suspect that she had been carrying twins all along. Then she began to think about who the "Big Brother" is. She was not sure but her instincts were pointing her to only one person. She mindlessly touched her big belly and rubbed it gently. "Whoever that big brother is, I'm not going to let him manipulate things around here." She muttered.

"Aerith,"

She turned towards the doorway, surprised to see Cloud standing there with a worried look on his face. She smiled. "Cloud!" she exclaimed.

Cloud heard her muttering earlier but he could not make out her words. "Are you alright?" he asked as he approached her.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Yes, I'm fine." She said before turning her gaze to her belly. "You think we're going to have twins?" she asked with an excited tone.

Cloud felt his heart jump when he heard that. "…twins?" he asked as his blue eyes widened. He approached Aerith, trying to control his facial muscles to prevent himself from smiling. "…I guess that's alright..." he struggled to say.

"You _guess_?" she asked in astonishment.

Cloud blinked as he felt his whole face getting warmer. "…N…no, of course not. I'd like to have twins!" he said in a defensive manner. "I mean… the… bigger our family, the better…" he stammered.

She just smiled softly at him and turned her gaze back to her belly. "I'm excited, Cloud." She giggled. "Well I hope this is indeed _yours_! I can't even remember doing _it_ with you…" she said in a joking manner.

Cloud took a deep breath as he raised his eyebrows. "I can't remember either…" he smirked. "I've an idea: Let's ask the children; maybe they watched us while we're doing the deed." He continued jokingly.

She looked at him shock. She could not believe he just made a joke like that.

Cloud eyed her seriously. "I'm kidding." He pointed out.

She blushed slightly and looked away. She chuckled lightly before turning her attention to the stove. "Almost forgot to let the soup simmer…" she muttered as she went back to the stove.

Cloud just watched her quietly with a faint smile on his face before turning his attention back to Yazoo who was looking after the unconscious Lavinia while talking to Zack about possible plans of escape from that world.

"How did you get here anyway?" Zack asked him.

"I can remember… rain… and I opened my eyes and I was in my room at the mansion where Kadaj lives." Yazoo answered.

Zack blinked. "Gee… now I can see your common denominator with Cloud's: Water." He said.

"Zack?" Cloud called out.

"Yes, Cloud?" Zack asked.

"Samara and Theodore pushed me into the lake… that's how I got here. You think we can go back to our world through water?" Cloud asked.

"Water?" Aerith asked, overhearing the conversation.

"That's what I've been thinking too. Maybe we can fill a bathtub with water and see what happens… or look for a big swimming pool…" Zack said.

"There are no bathtubs in this world… or swimming pools too." Yazoo said.

Zack began to reflect on what Yazoo had just said. "You're right… no bathtubs. I can remember the bathroom in my house here." he realized.

"You think we can leave the shower or the tap running and then wait and see what happens if we soak ourselves?" Cloud asked.

"That can be tedious considering how small the showers and the sink are…" Yazoo said.

"Then let's wait for rain." Cloud suggested.

Aerith shook her head. "It doesn't rain here." She said.

Cloud was dumbfounded.

"She's right. It may be cloudy but it never rains." Yazoo added.

Cloud shook his head. "I'm beginning to think that our situation here is hopeless. We don't even know who that Big Brother is." He said.

Then, Yazoo remembered something which made him gasp slightly.

"Something wrong, Yazoo?" Zack asked skeptically.

Yazoo's green eyes were wide as he turned to Zack and Cloud and began to explain what he remembered from the other night when he escaped from the Valentine Mansion. "Kadaj mentioned something about the so-called Big Brother. Maybe you can get something out of these clues: he was abused even as an unborn child. He mentioned something about… needles, drugs… experimented upon for the sake of science. It went on even after he was born and it was deemed abusive by Kadaj, so right now he doesn't want any child to experience that kind of abuse. To prevent that, he's, I guess, trying to build a new world where children are happy. They said that if Big Brother did not undergo such treatment from those cruel adults who experimented on him then he would not have grown up to be who he is right now." He frowned. "But I don't believe that. I just think that Big Brother using the children to get what he wants. Kadaj also said that all the children are brothers and sisters with Big Brother; and together, we'll help him start anew and he'll give us a better life." He continued.

Cloud frowned. "It's Sephiroth." he looked at Yazoo. "Who else can it be?" he asked.

Zack took a deep breath. "Sephiroth, you say? The Other Sephiroth or the real Sephiroth?" he asked.

"Who knows, the Other Sephiroth here is not who we thought he is. He could be the real one." Cloud pointed out.

"Then we must take action now and stop him." Zack suggested.

"But we're not sure yet." Cloud answered.

"That's why I suggest we go there right now to talk to them." Zack said as he headed for the door.

"Wait a minute, where are you going?" Cloud demanded.

When Zack opened the door, he was surprised to see the Other Sephiroth already standing outside and looking down at him rather coldly. Zack was at a loss for words as he stared up at the Other Sephiroth in awe.

The Other Sephiroth smirked. "Hello, Zack."

oOoOo

Coming from the kitchen, Aerith suddenly felt her tummy aching. She cringed as she gasped in pain. She leaned against the kitchen counter as she grabbed hold of her tummy. "Oh no… it's only been four months… don't tell me it's time already? Or am I just experiencing contractions?" she thought in panic. "C…Cloud!" she struggled to yell his name. She wondered what was going on and why the men were suddenly silent in the other room. "Cloud!" she called out again.

"Does it hurt?"

Her eyes widened when she heard that familiar voice. She slowly turned around to where the stove was located and saw Samara standing there and looking at her inquiringly. Aerith just stood still, refusing to speak to her, but when she tried to move away just when she saw the little girl approaching her, she realized that she could not move. She just watched as the girl lifted her pale little hands to her tummy and rested them gently on it. Aerith could not breathe.

"You're working too hard. You should rest first. It will be bad for your unborn child." Samara said as she stared at the big tummy.

Aerith's heart continued to race faster than usual. "I see… you need this child for your plan—whatever that is. Maybe it will be better off if I just have this child aborted to prevent their plan from coming true!" she was thinking to herself.

Samara's gaze shifted up to her and her gaze seemed to be piercing through Aerith's eyes. Aerith suddenly felt her head aching as Samara's facial expression shifted from solemn to threatening. "Oh no, Aerith. I won't have you harm this child." She hissed.

Aerith's mouth dropped open when she realized that Samara was able to read her mind. With enough force, she was able to move again and was able to push Samara away from her. She eyed her angrily. "What do you want with this child? He's not even yours!" she demanded angrily at the little girl.

Samara just looked at her with a nonchalant gaze, and just as when Aerith was about to say something else, she got distracted by the sound of the kettle whistling from the stove. Aerith turned her attention to the kettle for a moment and then back to Samara again, but when she looked, the little girl was gone.

She stared at the spot where the girl was supposed to be standing.

"Aerith,"

She turned towards the doorway and saw Cloud looking at her strangely.

She clenched her fist and walked over slowly to him. The pain was gone but she was still cautious. "Samara was here." She said.

Cloud blinked. "What?" he asked.

"She was here awhile ago. She touched my tummy and she read my mind. She warned me not to hurt this unborn child." She explained.

Cloud just stared at her curiously. "I've been… standing here all along and calling your name. I was wondering what was happening to you. Are you alright?" he asked as he gently held her arms and took a good look at her face.

She stared at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Aerith, there was no one here." He told her.

She stopped breathing for a moment before exhaling. "What?" she asked, feeling weird.

"I think you should sit down first." He said as he led her to a chair.

"But… I swear she was here! I can still feel her hand upon my tummy! Don't tell me I was just hallucinating?" she demanded.

Cloud knelt down before her, looking skeptical at first but then he suddenly appeared to have realized something. "No, I don't think you were hallucinating. The Other Sephiroth was here a while ago." He said.

She frowned slightly. "What does that have to do with my hallucination?" she asked.

"He's a puppet. Someone's controlling him. And since you saw Samara here, now I know it's her." He pointed out before turning towards the doorway. "Zack!" he called out.

Zack arrived dragging a big marionette-like object with no face but it had long silver hair and was wearing Sephiroth's clothes.

Aerith stared at the marionette in awe. "A puppet?" she looked up at Zack. "Does this mean that the Others are puppets too?" she asked.

"Looks like it. And they're being controlled by those children." Zack pointed out.

"How did he turn out to be that way?" she asked, eyeing the puppet with a disgusted look on her face.

"I was about to go out and when I opened the door, he was there, blocking my way. He wouldn't let me pass and he kept on insisting that he was there to fetch Lavinia because Rufus is looking for her. I got annoyed and pushed him away. It seemed easy to push him; actually, he was as light as an ordinary wooden chair." Zack explained.

Aerith looked at Cloud with a troubled look on her face.

"He fell backwards and then he wasn't moving anymore. I went over to check and realized he was just a puppet. But damn, whoever's controlling the Others is really good at manipulating our minds to think that they actually have faces!" Zack continued.

"It's probably Samara." Cloud pointed out as he looked at Aerith inquiringly. "Who knows, this Other Midgar could only be just a figment of our imagination. It's like someone's making us think that we're seeing real things but in reality, we're just imagining them." He continued.

"What about those children? You think they're puppets too?" Zack asked.

Cloud shrugged. "Maybe. Who knows?" he asked.

Aerith took a deep breath before saying, "We'd better think of a way to get out of this world as quickly as we can… before I give birth."

oOoOo

It was already time for dinner when Lavinia woke up again. She appeared to be weak and she had a miserable look on her face as she remained lying on the bed, refusing to eat.

"Do we really need to worry about her getting hungry? She's one of them. Just let her die." Zack pointed out coldly.

Yazoo frowned at him. "She's harmless without the other children around so give her a break." He answered haughtily.

"I can't really help but notice that you've grown attached to her." Zack observed with a skeptical look on his face.

"I want my mommy…" Lavinia said softly as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Oh, there, there, is Zack the Hedgehog offending you?" Yazoo asked as he took Lavinia in his arms and cradled her gently.

Zack stared at them in disbelief. "Zack the Hedgehog?" he demanded.

"Well you gotta admit, you do resemble a hedgehog with that hairdo of yours." Aerith teased.

Zack just crossed his arms and grunted. "You'd better be careful, Yazoo. She could just be a figment of your imagination." He warned.

Cloud continued to eat, listening quietly to the conversation.

Yazoo stared at Lavinia, studying her facial features and then smiled at her. "No, I don't think so. She's very real." He answered as he wiped her tears away. "There, there, stop weeping. What do you need your mommy for? I'm here!" he said brightly.

Lavinia cried more.

"You're not really helping. A child needs a mother and she's looking for hers." Cloud pointed out.

"Hello? Reality check! Her mother, the Other Tifa, is a puppet! Not a real person! So you can't really refer to that woman as her mother." Yazoo pointed out.

"Hah. And if the Other Tifa is really her mother, what if Lavinia _is_ indeed a puppet too or simply, just a figment of our imaginations?" Zack asked.

"This is really confusing. I'm starting to have a hard time discerning what's real from what's not." Aerith mumbled.

"I guess the only way to find out whether Lavinia is real or not is to take her with us back to our world and we'll see whether she turns into a pile of wood or not." Zack said while eyeing Lavinia suspiciously. "Or better yet, let's make her bleed or push her to the ground to see if she'll break!" he added.

The little girl's grip on Yazoo tightened as she wailed.

"Zack, that is enough. You shouldn't be scaring little girls like that!" Aerith told him sternly.

"She hasn't actually done anything bad to us anyway unlike the other children, anyway, so why do you hate her that much?" Yazoo asked him.

"Oh so you're waiting until she turns psycho and then tries to kill each one of us here before you can start suspecting her?" Zack asked as he got up and walked over to Yazoo and Lavinia. His shadow loomed over them. It did not intimidate Yazoo but it scared Lavinia even more. She held on tighter to Yazoo and bit her lower lip as she trembled in fear. "Why don't we just let her return to Kadaj and see what she can really do?" he asked as he stooped down so his face was close to hers.

Her eyes widened in fear. The mention of the name made her more hysterical and she screamed as she buried her face in Yazoo's chest. "No! No! I don't want to! I don't want to go back there! No! I'm terrified of Kadaj! He's evil! He'll keep all my lollies and he'll make Big Brother eat me!" she wailed.

Zack was surprised with her reaction. He moved away and smiled victoriously. "Okay, there's your answer." He said as he turned away to return to his seat by the dining table and proceeded to eat his meal.

Cloud, Aerith and Yazoo were dumbfounded. "You mean you were testing her?" Cloud asked.

"You cruel brute! You scared her too much, now look at her!" Yazoo pointed out as he tried his best to calm the little girl down by gently rubbing her back with his hand.

"Well at least we're certain now that the girl is harmless." Zack told them with a proud smile on his face.

They were all quiet for a while, just listening to Lavinia crying and Yazoo hushing her and trying his best to calm her.

"Come to think of it, where did these children come from?" Aerith asked.

"Maybe somebody imagined them and they came to life." Cloud answered. His answer seemed vague for him but the others understood his point.

"The Big Brother, I suppose." Yazoo mumbled.

Cloud looked at Yazoo, examining his features, and then shifting his gaze to Lavinia. "If she came from Sephiroth, then she'd look like you." He pointed out.

Yazoo felt a little offended. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Maybe they represent the childhood he never had." Aerith said softly. All eyes turned to her. She was looking at Lavinia solemnly. "If you think about it, these children are all loved and cared for by their parents and siblings older siblings. Sephiroth did not even experience nurturing from a mother or a father because it was like he only existed for the sake of science." She explained.

Yazoo looked at Lavinia and gently stroked her cheek. "When you said that Big Brother will eat you, what exactly do you mean?" he asked gently.

She sniffed and swallowed hard before looking up at Yazoo. "He will eat me. He will eat me if he sees me here. He will eat me if Kadaj catches me. He will eat me and I'll die. You'll die too…" she trailed off as more tears streamed down from her eyes.

Her words made them shiver and they looked at her pitifully yet questioningly. Her words were vague but they were enough to make them realize that what they're up against with is something really dangerous and could really cost them their lives.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

oOoOo

Several months passed and soon enough, Aerith's month of delivery arrived. Her tummy had grown very big and they could not help but really believe that there are twins inside of her.

They had gotten used to living in that small ratty old house. Even Lavinia stopped looking for her mommy because she said she felt safer with Yazoo around. However, not a single day passed wherein they would not feel paranoid that they are being observed from afar by the children and the other puppets even though they haven't received any visits from the children and those puppets ever since they discovered that the Other Sephiroth was a marionette.

It was early morning in mid-August and Cloud would normally expect that the weather would be warm and humid, however, it was cold, and as he was seated by the window and watching the empty streets outside the house, he wondered if anyone would drop by to check on Aerith since it was already her 9th month of pregnancy. "She could go into labor anytime soon." He thought as he smiled slightly at the thought of him finally being a father. Him and Aerith starting a family made him feel giddy as if all his troubles faded away, but then seeing the empty streets outside, he remembered where they were and his smile faded away. The gladness was soon taken over by worry when he felt someone tugging at his sleeve. "Cloud,"

He turned to his side and saw Lavinia looking at him with a worried look on her face. He wondered what was wrong with her but before he could ask, she spoke up again. "Aerith is in pain." She said.

His eyes widened and he immediately rushed to the kitchen where he last saw her before he went to the window. She was sitting on a chair and clutching her tummy in agony. She looked up at him with a painful smile on her face. "I think it's time…" she struggled to say.

Cloud could feel the blood rushing to his head but he tried to maintain his composure as he went over to her and told Lavinia to wake the others up so that they could help. The little girl rushed over to Yazoo and Zack who were sleeping on the floor by the bed to wake them up while Cloud carried Aerith over to the bed.

"What's going on?" Zack asked sleepily.

"She's going into labor." Cloud told them.

Zack's sleepiness faded away. "What?" he exclaimed as he got up and began to feel panicky. "What should we do?" he asked.

"I don't know!" Cloud told him.

Yazoo yawned. "I'll get some warm water and towels." he said sleepily as he lazily got up to fetch some towels and a basin of warm water.

Lavinia just stood in one corner, watching quietly as Aerith went into labor. She had a worried look on her face which Zack had been observing while helping Cloud and Yazoo attend to Aerith. He noticed the sudden life in the girl's eyes. Before, she had this glassy stare, but now, she seemed to have developed emotions—real emotions that real people could feel. He smiled gently at Lavinia and went over to her. "Are you okay, Lavinia?" he asked kindly.

She looked up at him and pouted sadly. "Is she going to be okay?" she asked with a shaky tone. Zack could tell that she was about to cry again so he took her in his arms and embraced her reassuringly. "Yes, she is." He told her.

Menawhile, Yazoo seemed to be the only one among the men who was calm and knowledgeable on what to do. He was the one who demonstrated to Aerith on how to breathe properly and cued when to push.

"How do you know all this?" Cloud asked curiously.

"I've seen Kadaj reading books on child-bearing and giving birth whenever he's not doing anything, and whenever he isn't around, I'd read them too out of curiosity. I've always wondered why he needed to know those things. Now I know." Yazoo explained.

Cloud looked at Aerith. "You know?" he asked.

Yazoo narrowed his eyes. "He wants to be here when Aerith is giving birth so that he can be assured that the baby is safe…" he trailed off when he was able to feel the head. "Oh, here we go!" his face lit up in excitement, so did Cloud.

Aerith was fighting the urge to scream but she was gasping. She held on tightly to the sheets and onto Cloud's hand. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying not to mind the pain while praying silently that the Others would not come to take her baby away. She opened her eyes when she heard the newborn crying and she saw Yazoo lifting a baby boy in his arms while carefully wrapping him with a towel. He handed the baby to Cloud. "It's a boy." He announced.

Cloud stared at the boy with several strands of blonde hair on its little head. He could not help but smile happily and he felt tears of joy welling in his eyes as he held his son. Then he felt his heart jump when he heard another newborn crying. He and Aerith were just surprised as they watched Yazoo wrapping another baby with a towel.

Lavinia smiled excitedly. "Twins!" she said as she clapped her hands in joy.

Zack took a deep breath as he watched in amazement. "Wow. You've really done it this time, eh, buddy?" he joked.

Cloud just smiled proudly at him as he watched Yazoo handing the other baby to Aerith. "It's a boy, Cloud," she said as tears of joy fell from her eyes. The baby that she was holding in her arms had darker hair, which they assumed was really brown.

Zack let go of Lavinia and went over to Cloud and Aerith to congratulate them and to help Yazoo in cleaning up the mess. "Now I'm envious. I suddenly want to get married and have a kid!" Zack announced.

"Go search for a bride elsewhere but not here in this world. You'll end up having baby puppets instead." Yazoo pointed out rather coldly.

Lavinia just stood still, watching the new family with a gentle smile on her face.

Aerith cradled the brown-haired baby in her arms. "Sora," she said gently.

"Sora?" Zack asked as he set the basin of warm water aside.

Cloud smiled as he looked at his son that Aerith was carrying. "I like the name." he said before turning his gaze to his other son that he was cradling in his arms. "And this one's Roxas." He declared.

Lavinia just listened as the names were mentioned and then she lowered her gaze to the ground. She suddenly looked sad.

Aerith noticed that Lavinia was just standing in one corner and watching them all this time. She saw that the little girl was suddenly sad. "Lavinia, would you like to meet Sora and Roxas?" she asked gently.

Lavinia lifted her gaze to Aerith and was hesitant at first, but she smiled shyly and slowly approached the bed. The babies had ceased crying as she neared them. "They're twins. Which one is which?" she asked curiously as she observed them.

Cloud smiled. "Sora is the one with brown hair like Aerith's. Roxas is the one with yellow hair, just like yours." He explained.

Lavinia blinked, looking up at Cloud curiously. "And like yours too." she said as she smiled brightly.

He nodded. "Yes." He answered.

She turned her gaze back to Roxas and gently touched his head. "Yellow hair… like daddy too." she said softly. And her lips curled into a sad pout as she withdrew her hand from the baby's head.

Aerith could tell that the girl suddenly missed her parents but there was nothing they could do about it. Unless…

She smiled at Lavinia. "You can see your mommy and daddy again but we have to get out of here first." She explained.

Lavinia's face lit up in excitement. "I can?" she asked.

Aerith nodded. "Yes. But you have to be a good girl, okay?" she asked gently.

Cloud looked at her curiously. "What are you planning?" he asked.

Lavinia nodded eagerly. "Yes, I'll be a good girl! I promise!" she said happily.

She just smiled sweetly at him. "Oh I'm sure Rufus is going to love her, don't worry. She's just adorable!" she said.

Cloud felt the blood draining from his face as he realized what Aerith was planning.

Apparently, Zack and Yazoo was able to guess what Aerith was planning. "_If_ and only if we can get out of here alive." The latter pointed out with a pessimistic air as he finished cleaning up. "By the way, do you want me to put the umbilical cords in a bottle so that you can preserve it or something?" he asked nonchalantly.

Just then, they heard someone knocking on the front door. They all fell silent and Lavinia rushed over to Yazoo's side to hide behind him. The newborn twins also began to cry again, wailing as if struggling to say a warning. Judging from the reaction coming from Lavinia and the twins, the adults could already tell that they should not open the door. They were all focused on the door that when they all looked at each other, they realized that their surroundings have changed. It was as if they were not inside the ratty old house in the first place. Now they're not sure whether they imagined the ratty old house or not. Their new surroundings resembled a big room that seemed to belong to a mansion. Yazoo was immediately able to recognize the interiors of the room. "This is… the Other Sephiroth's room." He announced.

Zack, Cloud and Aerith felt the sudden surge of panic in their veins when they heard that.

The knocking went on.

Lavinia's grip on Yazoo tightened. "I'm scared!" she said as she trembled. He took a deep breath as he looked at Cloud and Aerith, then at Zack with an inquiring look.

Zack frowned as he swallowed hard and went over to the door. "Yazoo, Cloud, take Aerith and the kids with you. I'll handle these little brats. Escape through the balcony. I'm sure you were trained to jump from a high place." He instructed discreetly before he reached the door and grabbed hold of the doorknob. He took a deep breath and waited for them to get out of the balcony before slowly twisted the doorknob and pulled the door open. He took a peek outside and saw Kadaj standing there with Kairi, Theodore and Samara. The children were looking up at him with innocent smiles on their faces.

Zack flashed them a fake smile. "Hello, kids! How's the weather?" he asked.

Kadaj stepped forward. "Let us in." he said as he tried to push Zack aside.

"Uh… no. We're still cleaning up." Zack said.

Kadaj glared at him angrily. "I said let us in!" he said harshly.

Zack tried to keep calm as he eyed Kadaj sternly. With that, he slowly took a few steps backward and let the children in.

Kadaj ran inside and the three followed after him, scanning the empty room. He could feel his blood boiling. "Big brother is not going to like this…" he heard Samara say with a low tone.

Kadaj could feel his temper flaring as he turned around to look at Zack, but he was surprised that Zack was not there anymore.

Kairi screeched.

oOoOo

Zack heard the familiar screech of his "daughter" coming from the mansion and it still echoed in his mind even when he finally caught up with Cloud and the others who were already by the gate and inside a black luxury sedan which they stole from the garage. Zack could not help but notice the exquisite style of the car and was in awe. "Whoa. Whose car is this?" he asked as he got inside. Aerith immediately stepped on the clutch, shifted to gear 5 and then stepped on the gas pedal.

"Hey, are you sure you can already drive? Didn't you just go into labor?" Zack demanded in shock.

"I'm fine! I just want to get out of here!" Aerith answered sternly as she sped up.

Cloud held on tightly to Roxas who was still in his arms, while Yazoo sat still at the back with Sora in his arms and Lavinia holding on tightly to his arm with a worried look on her face.

Zack turned back and he did not see any of the children going after them. "They're not following. Where are we going?" he asked.

"I don't really know…" Aerith answered.

And just when they reached the highway, the engine suddenly died. Aerith hurriedly stepped on the clutch and tried the ignition again but it was no use. "Oh no…" she moaned in dismay.

"Let's just get out of here." Cloud said as he unlocked the door and got out of the car to look around. He then realized that the car had stopped by the area where the top of Reactor number 1 was. He frowned slightly as he approached it and realized that it was still draining Mako from somewhere. "It's like the real thing… back from where we came from…" he thought. He stared at the liquid form of Mako flowing.

Aerith, Zack, Yazoo and Lavinia arrived by his side and stared down at the Mako inside the reactor.

"Looks like we're doomed." Zack mumbled.

"Don't say that! We can still go into hiding somewhere!" Aerith protested with a worried tone, although something in her was saying that all their efforts are just going to be hopeless.

"And if we ever find a decent hiding place, it's going to seem like we just imagined it. And we're back to square one!" Zack pointed out.

Lavinia suddenly gasped and hid behind Yazoo again. They wondered what made her do that and when they turned around again, they saw Kadaj, Kairi, Theodore and Samara looking at them with sinister stares.

"You're a traitor, Lavinia." Samara pointed out to her younger sister.

Lavinia just held on tightly to Yazoo.

"Yes, Lavinia. You too, Yazoo. I thought we're brothers?" Kadaj asked bitterly.

Yazoo just narrowed his eyes at Kadaj. He was surprised at himself because he was not afraid of Kadaj anymore. He smirked. "You're not going to hurt Lavinia or the twins. And guess what, I won't even let you have them." He said.

Kadaj widened his eyes at him. "You're ruining Big Brother's plans! Together with Big Brother, all the children will be united and we can finally be with Mother again!" he pointed out.

"You're crazy! If you think that JENOVA is your mother, you're wrong! She's just a useless piece of crap from outer space…" Zack began, but Kadaj shushed him.

"You speak of such blasphemous things about our Mother? I cannot forgive you for your behavior!" Kadaj turned to Kairi. "Kairi!" he signaled.

Kairi eyed Zack bitterly. "Oh daddy, why did you abandon me and mommy?" she asked with tears in her eyes as she brought out several shuriken blades.

"Shit." Zack mumbled.

Lavinia's eyes widened and she looked back at the glowing Mako from the reactor. Then, she looked up at Yazoo, then at Cloud and Aerith. Cloud was holding Roxas while Aerith already had Sora in her arms. She swallowed hard and moved away from Yazoo as she ran towards the couple and with enough force and adrenalin, she was able to push both of them with the babies inside the Mako reactor.

"No!" Kadaj yelled.

The shuriken blades slipped from Kairi's grasp as she witnessed what Lavinia had done.

Samara and Theodore just stood still with surprised looks on their faces.

Lavinia just stood still as Zack went over to the edge of the reactor's rim, searching for traces of life from Cloud, Aerith and their newborn twins. "Cloud! Aerith!" he called out.

Yazoo stared at Lavinia in awe. "Lavinia, why?" he asked breathlessly.

Lavinia did not say anything. She just looked at her siblings and smiled sadly. "I'm sorry. I just want to hug mommy and daddy again." she said gently before grabbing Zack and Yazoo with her as she let herself fall backwards into the Mako reactor.

The last thing the three of them heard was Kadaj screaming frustratingly.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

oOoOo

Tifa Lockhart glanced over her shoulder when she heard someone knocking on the door of her bar. She stopped wiping the glasses clean with a washcloth and then walked over to the door. She stopped for a moment, jerking in surprise when lightning flashed from outside, followed by the sound of roaring thunder. It had been raining nonstop for seven days already. "Seven days… and it's already been seven days since Cloud and those two children had gone missing." She thought with a worried look on her face as she continued her way to the door. She carefully opened it, cautious not to let any of the water in. She was surprised to see Rufus Shinra standing in the rain with a white umbrella and looking like a wet puppy. "…Rufus!" she exclaimed.

"May I come in?" he asked.

She immediately stepped aside to let him in, not caring anymore whether he was drenched and was dripping everywhere inside her bar. She shut the door and locked it again before turning to assist him. "I can see you can finally walk properly now, but why did you insist on coming here?" she asked.

Rufus shut the umbrella and handed it to her as he kept a straight face. "Didn't I say that I'd check on you here everyday ever since Cloud disappeared?" he asked.

Tifa blinked and suddenly, she could not fight the urge to smile. "Oh. Yes. Of course. I'd never forget that." she said softly.

He just smiled slightly at her.

She moved aside and gestured for him to just stay where he is. "Stay put, I'll get you some towels." She said before rushing upstairs to get some towels.

He obeyed, just observing the whole bar as he waited for her to return. When she arrived back at the bar, she was carrying 2 clean towels and handed them to him so that he could at least dry himself up for a bit. "You could've at least sent your Turks here. Now you're going to get sick again." she said.

"I don't really mind." He answered nonchalantly.

"You don't mind getting sick?" she asked in awe.

"Well, that… and I don't mind coming here on my own. I needed to exercise my legs. Where are Marlene and Denzel?" he asked.

She just smiled calmly as she helped in drying his hair. "They're upstairs playing. There are no classes today because of the very bad weather." She explained.

"I see." Rufus said, and then they both jerked slightly when lightning struck again and was followed by loud thunder. "It's good that those children aren't afraid of lightning and thunder." He pointed out.

"I think they've gotten used to it by now." She said with a weak smile on her face. "Would you like something warm to drink?" she asked.

"Sure. But can I change into something dry first? I'm sure Cloud has some spare clothing upstairs…" he said.

"Yes, you may." She said, chuckling lightly.

Rufus took a deep breath and pulled out his mobile phone from his pocket and handed it to Tifa. "Maybe you can find a way to dry this thing too." he said with a weak smile on his face.

She giggled. "Sure, sure. But even if it's ruined, you can easily buy a new one, right?" she asked, winking at him before going over to the counter.

He smiled as he watched her walk away from him. "It can wait." He said before going to the stairs. "In other news, still no sign of Cloud and the two strange children." Rufus pointed out.

Tifa took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. "I don't know, Rufus. I've stopped worrying somehow. I just keep thinking that maybe Cloud took those two to the Gold Saucer or maybe they're off to find the parents or something…" she explained.

"You've got a positive outlook." He remarked before he reached the second floor and began to look for Cloud's room, leaving Tifa downstairs to see if his mobile phone was still working properly.

Suddenly, she heard someone knocking frantically at the front door. She wondered who it was and she hurriedly ran to it and opened it. Her eyes widened in surprise when she recognized who the people were. "…Oh my goodness…" she said softly.

Cloud smiled weakly at her. "Tifa! Hi." He greeted stiffly.

Tifa's gaze shifted over to Yazoo, then to Aerith, then Zack, and then to Lavinia. When she saw Lavinia, she could not help but stare at her. The little girl was staring at her too and she appeared happy to see her. Tifa thought that she was staring at herself as a little girl once more as she was looking at Lavinia, except that this little girl before her had blonde hair.

Tifa then looked at the baby that Cloud was holding, and then shifted her gaze over to the baby that Aerith was holding.

"Please let us in." Cloud said with a pleading tone. It surprised Tifa that he had spoken to her that way and he seemed to be extremely worried about something.

Without saying anything, she stepped aside to let them in, but she was eyeing Aerith, Yazoo and Zack in disbelief. "Am I seeing things? Why are they…" she stammered as she shut the door. She blinked several times as she kept her gaze to the floor before turning to look at them again.

"They're real, Tifa." Cloud began.

She turned to him with in an inquiring look on her face.

He smiled calmly at her as he approached her and showed her the baby that he was carrying. "I'd like you to meet Roxas. He's my son. And that's Sora over there with Aerith. They're twins." He said proudly.

Tifa still looked dumbfounded and confused.

"Uhm… I think you should explain to her first how we got here and why you're suddenly a father, Cloud." Zack suggested with a weak smile on his face.

Cloud's smile faded a little. "Oh. Right. Sorry about that…" he mumbled before taking a deep breath and spoke up to her again, "You're not seeing things. To make the long story short, those two kids I brought home here are little devils. I know it's hard to believe it at first but…" he stammered.

"Wait a moment… did you say those kids you brought home 7 days ago were the reason why you didn't come home for a long time? Where are they now?" Tifa demanded. She was suddenly more concerned with "Teddy" and "Sam" than with Cloud. She then shifted her gaze to Aerith who was looking at her with a puzzled look on her face. "And… in 7 days you and Aerith have children already?" she asked in disbelief.

"It's been 7 days here?" Cloud asked in surprise before turning to Zack in bewilderment. "I thought I've been gone for more than 9 months!" he pointed out.

Yazoo shrugged. "Looks like we were really transported into another dimension created by someone's mind." He mumbled before turning to Lavinia. He noticed that she had been staring at Tifa in a loving manner, the way a daughter would stare at her beloved mother. He smiled and gently stroked her long blonde hair. She looked up at him and smiled happily.

"There you have it. The explanation coming straight from Yazoo's mouth." Cloud told Tifa.

Tifa was still in a state of shock until Rufus arrived, although he was still wearing his wet clothes. "I don't like his clothes, they're all black and they smell like mothballs…" he trailed off when he saw the familiar people standing before his eyes.

Tifa breathed in. "Rufus, you can see them too, can't you?" she asked.

He just stood still as he stared back at Aerith, Yazoo and Zack. "Yes, I can perfectly see them…" he turned his gaze to Cloud and he was smiling at him.

"Hey, Rufus. How's it going?" Cloud asked.

Sora began to cry and Roxas followed.

"Oh dear. We have to change their clothes to keep them warm. I don't want them getting sick! They were just born a few hours ago!" Aerith said in a panicky manner.

"What? But… whose children are those?" Rufus asked.

Cloud walked over to the stairs. "Let's go upstairs, Aerith." He said.

Zack smiled at Tifa and Rufus. "While the new parents are changing their babies' clothes, let me do the explaining to you and Tifa instead." He said.

Tifa nodded slowly. "Alright… but... dry yourselves up first and I'll switch on the heater system." She said. She suddenly remembered that her new guests were still soaked from the rain when she noticed the blonde little girl who was looking at her with an admiring gaze. For some reason, she felt drawn to the little girl.

Rufus, on the other hand, also could not help but stare the blonde little girl who was looking at Tifa lovingly. He shifted his gaze to Tifa and realized how much she resembled the little girl, except that the little girl had blonde hair. He walked over to the little girl and draped one of the drier towels over her shoulder.

Lavinia looked up at Rufus, surprised at first, but then she smiled.

Yazoo smiled lightly. "This is Lavinia." He introduced.

Rufus raised his eyebrows and smiled pleasantly at her. "Lavinia. It's nice to meet you. Dry yourself up, will you?" he asked as he patted her head before heading over to Zack. "Start explaining." He commanded sternly.

Zack just grinned and with that, he began to narrate what happened…

oOoOo

The rain stopped by evening and the skies cleared up immediately, making way for a showcase of stars and the full moon.

Tifa was helped by Marlene and Zack in preparing dinner while Rufus watched the evening news with Lavinia in the living room area. Cloud and Denzel attended to Aerith, helping her in taking care and looking after Sora and Roxas as she rested.

Yazoo was the only one who was not doing anything after he had set the table. When he got bored, he went over to the living room to join Rufus and Lavinia. The two seemed to enjoy very much what they were doing, discussing about business and the stock market. Yazoo was just glad that Lavinia could be completely happy already, although it was still hard for Tifa, Rufus, Denzel and Marlene to believe the story that Zack had told them earlier.

What more if Barret, Yuffie, Vincent and Cid would arrive sometime and would see Aerith alive? And Zack too? "Don't forget about me. I'm supposed to be the enemy here…" Yazoo was thinking as he sat down on the other couch.

Rufus did not seem to mind him too much as he continued to talk to Lavinia, "You seem to be knowledgeable in business and the stock market." He remarked, impressed that a 9 year-old girl like her is already knowledgeable and interested in the things that he happens to like to discuss with fellow business-minded people like Tifa.

She smiled proudly. "My daddy is a businessman." She explained.

Rufus blinked. "I see. Is he someone I know?" he asked.

Yazoo recalled that Zack did not discuss in too much detail about the Others. He just mentioned Sephiroth, Kadaj, Kairi, Samara and Theodore wanting to use them to be united as one and meet their mother. Yazoo crossed his arms and looked at the TV. "I can be at ease now, I guess… away from Kadaj." He thought to himself before looking at Rufus and Lavinia again. "I'm starting a new life here… with these people." He thought. And looking at Lavinia, he realized how much he wanted to protect her. "I'll never let that happen again…" he thought with a slight smile on his face.

"It's dinnertime!" Tifa called out from the kitchen.

Lavinia's face lit up when she heard Tifa's voice. "Dinner!" she exclaimed happily as she jumped off from the sofa and dragged Rufus with her to the dining room. "Hey, slow down!" Rufus pointed out.

Yazoo took a deep breath and sighed, smiling in relief before turning off the television set.

oOoOo

It was near midnight and Cloud was still awake and seated by his window while reading a book on parenthood—something which he never thought he would read sometime in the future. He found it in Barret's room just stashed underneath his pile of other unread books about weapons and politics.

Aerith was cradling Roxas in her arms and singing a lullaby to him while Sora lay asleep just beside her.

In no time, Roxas fell asleep and she carefully got up and placed him in his cradle. Just when she was about to get Sora and place him in his own cradle just beside Roxas', she heard someone knocking at the door. She jerked slightly, surprised with the knock. Even Cloud was surprised. They had become accustomed to hearing knocks and associating them with Kadaj, Kairi, Theodore or Samara.

Aerith was hesitant at first but she said, "Come in,"

The door slowly opened and there was Lavinia dressed in pink pajamas. She had a sweet smile on her face as she entered and closed the door.

Aerith and Cloud calmed down upon seeing her. "Lavinia, you're still awake?" she asked.

She skipped over to the cradle and took a peek at Roxas sleeping soundly. "I just want to see your babies before I go to sleep." She said softly, careful not to wake the babies up.

Aerith smiled as she went over to the bed to carry Sora over to his cradle. "How do you find living here so far?" she asked.

Lavinia moved away from the cradle and walked over to Cloud so that she could look outside the window and look at the stars. "I'm happy here. I can still see the stars. Besides, mommy and daddy are here too… although I'm not supposed to call them _mommy_ and _daddy_ for now. But still, I'm happy because I'm with them… and Yazoo too! And of course, the babies are safe, which makes me happy too!" She said brightly.

Cloud observed the happy smile on her face. "Tell me, Lavinia… why did you decide to push us into the Mako reactor?" he asked.

She looked up at him curiously. "Is that bad?" she asked, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

"No. It's not. But you basically helped us even if it meant betraying the trust of Kadaj." Cloud pointed out.

Lavinia smiled sweetly at him before looking away and she gazed up at the stars again. "I did promise that I'd be a good girl, right?" she asked.

Aerith recalled telling her that if she would be a good girl, she would be able to see her parents again. She smiled calmly and walked over to Lavinia. Lavinia turned around just in time when she knelt down before her and embraced her. Lavinia was surprised at first but she embraced Aerith back.

"Thank you very much, Lavinia." Aerith said softly. "You're a little angel." She added.

Lavinia smiled softly as she embraced Aerith back. "Sephiroth will never hurt you again." she whispered. And then her lips curled into a disdainful pout. "I will _never_ let him hurt you again…" she hissed softly.

Cloud's smile faded when he heard that.

By the time Lavinia moved away from Aerith, she was smiling again even as she went over to the door. She opened it and there was Tifa standing outside with a surprised look on her face. Tifa smiled at her. "I knew you'd be here. You'd better sleep now. It's really late." She told her.

Lavinia just giggled and went behind Tifa.

Aerith smiled at Tifa.

Tifa stared at Aerith for a moment and then smiled. "It's really nice to have you around here again. I gotta admit… I missed having you around." She said solemnly.

Aerith chuckled lightly. "You'll finally have more manpower here with me around. I can now help you with chores." She said in a lighthearted manner.

Tifa giggled before shifting her gaze to Cloud. "Well then, I hope you make her comfortable in your small messy room." She pointed out in a nagging manner which made him frown.

"By the way, where is Lavinia going to sleep? Is there still room for her in Denzel and Marlene's room?" Aerith asked.

"Oh. She's staying with me in my room." Tifa decided before stepping backwards to close the door. "Well then, I'd better tuck her in now. Good night." She said before shutting the door. With that, she led Lavinia back to her room.

Lavinia climbed onto Tifa's bed and just when Tifa was placing the blanket over her, she kissed her cheek. Tifa was stunned at first but she calmed down when she saw the sweet smile on Lavinia's face. "What was that for?" she asked.

"I always kiss my mommy goodnight whenever she tucks me in. You look so much like my mommy." Lavinia answered.

Tifa was puzzled at first but her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Yazoo from downstairs in her bar, sounding the bell—a signal that there are newcomers. Tifa just smiled at her and gently patted her cheek. "Good night, Lavinia." She said gently before switching off the lamplight and rushed downstairs again to her bar. When she arrived at her bar, she saw Yuffie standing by the counter and eyeing Yazoo suspiciously. "Oh you're here again!" she exclaimed.

Yuffie turned her gaze over to Tifa. "What's this guy doing here?" she asked.

Tifa just smiled weakly. "Long story." She said.

Zack came out from the kitchen area carrying a tray of mugs filled with beer. "This is for table 2…" he trailed off when he saw Yuffie. He stared at her for moment before gathering enough guts to smile at her since he still felt traumatized from the Other Yuffie.

Yuffie smiled brightly at him. "Hi." She greeted before rushing to Tifa. "Who's the hunk?" she whispered to her.

Tifa just smiled weakly. "He's… Zack. He's Cloud's friend from way back in SOLDIER." She explained.

Yuffie turned back to him and smiled sweetly. "SOLDIER, you say? I'm Yuffie." She said, offering a handshake as she rushed to him.

He smiled pleasantly at her before shifting his gaze to Yazoo who was smirking at him. This is definitely a new life for them… and they would not let "big brother" bother them anymore.

oOoOo

-the end?-

Author's Note: This story started on impulse while drinking coffee in Starbucks one December afternoon. I was waiting for my cousin's class to finish and she left her laptop with me and I just began to type away the rest of the hours before going home, therefore, ending up with a fic like this. It's been around 3 months already ever since I finished this but I only found time to edit and proofread the whole thing just yesterday evening. Hurrah.Hurra


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